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^ APPLIED IIVMGE

'65J Easi Main Str*

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

BOOKS BY
CHARLES CLARK MUTSN

nileiK TERRY. A S.o,y „, u.. M.,„. c«.,

ROCKHAVER ^

"lmlra,.dbi,f,.,„kT..\t„r,U. «, „
THE HERMIT. A Story „, ,h. waj.„„.

'"•""■•'■'' h A. B.Shulr. ,,.,„
THE OIRl FROU TIM'S PLACE

'"•"•""'<> h Frank T. \t„rm. «, ,„
MYRTLE BALDWIB '

'""''■■■'I'd by ir,„y Koll,. ,,.,„
THE CASTLE BUILDERS

BOYHOOD DAYS OH THE FARM A «.„„ .
Voung „d OW Boy. "' * ^'""^ '"

'"<"t,„M by Frank T. MnriU. s, „
Iliustr.Ued by If,lr . // .-.a .l

iylluPuilhhtr, ""'t^'

LOTHROP, LEE 4 SHEPARD CO., BOSTON

'•''■'■'■'■ ^^■•'•^ •»■*>«>« CIMKOK N„w.-.

P"U<' 70.

THE

CASTLE BUILDERS

Published, August, 1910

COPVK,GHT,,„0,BVLOT„HOP,LKH&SH...K„CO.

^U rights reserved
The Castle Builders

BERWICK & SMITH CO.

NORWOOD, MASS.,
U. S. A.

PREFACE

A few men awe us by their dauntless courage far

v.s.on, pnmal force, and power of leadership. M^n

who blaze their way where never highway ral "

Many „,ore chann us by wi, humor, and abili Jto

d-scover and express the droll side of ordinarv

Rambowv.,le is still on the map of our lives It

uld a 1 h '"' '^'^^^•^'^^ ■■" '"'^ book, and

tHetrrtX-;"'''^"^easthebasisof

are Wd V ."S " "^" ''^'"^^'^ ''^ ^" -^°
as he has br :; , ra?:fT"r ■ ^"' '"^^'""^'^
a pessimistic mtd so do it^T "^ "" "^"^
readers. ' so do I hope he may to my

Charles Cl.ark Munn.

J'. ••A'" '^mmirm^

ILLUSTRATIONS

vs... AS. xooK CH.HOK «ow (Page ;o, . . ^,„„,^,,,,

One, SXACV HHCOGMZEO OK THE «ST^.; ' ' " ' ^^
"Ze AWFUL TIME AS NEVER VAS" ■ • • 106

SHE^SAW^MAETHA KKEE..O « EHO.T OE THE E.h'. "^

"MHBBE VO. .E CALXaT,.: Tci MAEHV HEH, THOUGH .•. 2

A SCDFPLE OP FEET nAv^rx,^ „ ' ' ■ • 37°

"-IT DA^CING ON A BOARD

• . . 454

M"-: "r

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

CHAPTER I

nd ught h,s way through the Mohawk-
Dnared morass of Bear Hr,l. c
sibly in pursuit of trout in ealifv 1 ""'' T"'
suitable site for a dam Lh ^ P^°^P^«'"g for a

trie power to Barre 7 t "°"' '° ^"^P'^ ^l^^
away bey ./ ' '°''' "'^ ^°"«^^" ""es

lost hi. i '■''"^' °f mountains. He had

-sooth2ru.r^-;f<^---^need,es.

such consolation disclosed Tn '^ .''"'"^■-'"■'- °f
J-we. abutting ;t:i :,:-'- j--head

^-th.s and mingling With the softSt^t^
I

'■"V'lf ..111^'^j:-

\ \

3 TIIIC CASTLI. BUILDERS

grcc,, ciMopy alxnc l,im came the faint, metallic
I'''">< I'l.Mk •■ of son,c ,m,sical instm.nent. So
we.rd a,„l witching was it-ahnost uncanny -
that he stood stock-still, even forgetting his half-
starvcl con<lition for a moment. Then, as the mur-
nuir of the pines died auay. the ghostly melody
resolved .tself into the old familiar plantation tune
of Don t You Hear Dem Bells A-Ringing? "

For fully five minutes Stacy stood almost breath-
less to catch this strangely sweet old-time melody
famt m the distance, then step by step crept onward
Ten, twenty, thirty rods, and he nalted again, for
just ahead in the open sat a girl, leaning against the
tnmk of a monster pine, and holding in her lap an
auto-harp.

A sin,ply.made, well-fitting calico dress enclosed
her damtily rounded form, two low tan shoes
pomted their toes upward, a broad sun-hat lay be-
s.de her; her face, sweet, sun-tanned, yet dreamy
from soul-absorption in her tuusic. was bent over
her harp, while two small hands swept back and
forth across its strings. So charming was this pic-
ture that Stacy forgot the rudeness of his act and
watched ,t for a long minute of almost trance.
Then he strode forward out of the thicket with a
Beg pardon, don't be scared," to save her from

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

H.S effort failed, I.owever. for with a scream that
was almost of fear, she tossed the harp aside, sprang
up,^bounded a rod away, ,l,en turried an.l faced him
_ Dont be frightened, please," he added assur-
■ngly, and bowing now, as he raised his cap " I
am only a harmless fisherman just escape.l 'from
the swamp back there, and nearly starved." Then
glancng towards the roof of an old brown house
barely v.s.ble below them, he continued. "Do you
thmk I can buy something to eat at your home, as
i suppose It is, down there?"

"I g-guess so," she stammered, still watching
h.m w,th wide-open, fathomless eyes. And now
as h.s n,ud-splashed, scratched, yet open and smil-
ing face reassured her, a smile came to hers.

That ,s my home, sir," sh.e continued with dig-
mty now, 'and I presume mother will find some-
thing for you."

And now, as man and maid stood watching one
another, Stacy smiling genially as was his fvont,

•• But you did give me an awful fright," she said.

know ,t, he returned humbly now, "but I

d-dn t mean to. I .„, ,„ _, „„, ^, ^^^ ^.^^

And so these two, Mi..s Hazel Webster, a keen-

4 THK CASTLF. BUILDERS

witted, sweetly simple country ,i,I n^cl twenty-
one and Stacy Whipple, a polished city-bred man
of Inrty first n.et. And neither rea.iml how the
shuttle of f.te and fortune was destined to weave
mto their lives the warp and woof of human happi-
ness and human suffering.

Just then however, food was of more account
than even the fairest of r.stic maids to Stacy, so
vth another bow and tip of cap to this one, he
turned and left her. A few rods down the open
past.re n ,d a tall, bent old man. wieldin^r a hoe in
a potato field beside it, caught his eye. To him. as
the^hkehest one to obtain food frotn, Stacy now

" Good morning, sir," he said with his usual form
of address, whatever tl-.e time of day "I am a
ha,f-starved man just escaped from an all-day
scramble through Bear Hole Swamp," he added, as
he farmer looked up, " and will pay well for some-
thing to eat. Can you do anything for me ' "

' J, ye look it," answered Uncle Asa, smiling
at h,m „ ,th keen, kindly blue eyes. " B'ar Hole's
a tough un to tackle, speshly by a city feller ez I
see you be. I guess we kin fix ye up suthin'," he
cont.nued now leading the way toward the House
Cotnc along, n' I'll see what Martha kin do "
My name's Whipple. Stacy Whipple from Al-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

W ! . . ^ '° ''"=■"' = ^^"^^ broolc-trout fish
•ng. and ,he landlonl of your hotel set ne at , . '

~. and into the worst swa.p thai L".^

-co„e.sa«ef^ot;?itrrr,"

t'rook's full o„ 'em 'n' in 1 "°''

fust tin tlnfs etrT' , 1 ^^ ^"- ^°" '-"■"'' ">^
You kn b«% t°"' ""^ ^'^'y '""<^'' bushed.

'bout V Sid r: 'T "''"'■"' "" ^'">' """^■"'

-thev,,ea^df,:et:;r^' '■'-«''•' "■>^«'i

spILfkS^L ""''"';" '"''''^'™-»'^'' -
fishenren S • "S:" '? ''^^^■^' -^-'-V. - all
--ob.,;^,,,:;-;^-„hott.theswa.p

^^al, ye done well," asserted jr„rU i
an accent of praise an,l 1 "*^'' '""'^'f Asa with

ter-n n,ost ''""''"'' P"P »»° '''e basket. " Bet-
-^t do. One o yottrs'll weigh n.ost a

, •iiL-JF' ■.rf-'wRMwr-Ea* -"irr'.

i
1

6 rUK CASTLE BUILDERS

po.in<I. Jist yot. keep still 'tout the swamp when
yoi, g,( back-, •„• you-ll kimler spile Sam's la.iRh at
ye. He's got it waitin' fer ye, siirc's a Run "

1 hen this l.,val.le old r.oo,| Samaritan led the
miKl-soiled Stacy into a back kitchen where there
was a stone sink and fancet for . ,ning water
brought a cake of toilet soap and clean towel, and
returned tr the next or main kitchen of this antique
abode.

Martha," he said pleasantly (and overheard by
Stacy), " I've fetched a man in who's 'most starved.
What kin ye do for him.?"

_ " Why, I kin git him some bread 'n' butter I
spose," came the accidental answer; " thar ain't no
cold meat in the house."

" Ye might fry him a sli, o' ham, Martha " .
turned Uncle Asa in soothing tone, " 'n' I'll dres'
him a few o' his trout; he's perty hungry "

" Me fry trout this hot afternoon ? Guess not ! "
growled Martha.

" But ye might," persisted (. cle Asa soothingh
He seems a pic -ant sort o' leller. A stranger
who come here a fishin'. Don't be frettv, Marthn
I'll start the fire. Whar's Hazel ? "

"Whar she alius is when wanted," came the
•sharp rejoinder. •' A-plinkin' on that new contrap-

THE CASTLE DUILDERS

«on you bon,l,t her. i„ some shady spo,,Vlcavi„-
mc lo (lu the work."

And that brief yet qnit.. p,r,i„ent ,lialo^u,e now
d.scIosed the domestic „a, of this family to St:
as fully as an hot.r's history of it could have dorte

rte also soon caught sight of a fairly comely
woman of middle age and red hair through an open

the back one. saw the irirl he hu^l p.,,,

sud enly now enter the house, and then he refre ted

to t e shade of a maple beneath which stood a

grnta to be out of hearing of any further do-
mestic exchanges.

"Can-t be she's her mother." he muftercl. seat-
ing himse f here "It ,i„„. v ^ '. »eai
A.,^.1 r doesnt seem possible."
And then after half ,„ ,,o., ,„„ ,„^^^ ^^

upon the ntutual relationship of tl,ese thre. ^ e'

he was ,nv.ed into the living room of "Uncle'
Asa so w„ al, over the town of Oakda;

f°" °^ "'^ ^'"^'^■^••'■d Hazel, now dressed in wite

se :;nm ""; t ^"■■^^' -""-^ <"«--'^ ^s

coffee -M ":. °' "'''" ^'^•^' ^S^-'- f^i«' fo^t, and
coffee w,th a d.sh of field s,rawlH.>rries; all of which

ever had been. No awkward diffidence on her

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

part, just an easy, pleasant urbanity and attention
to his wants, a few polite inquiries as to his ex-
periences that clay in the swamp, and for the rest
he was left to do most of the talking. He had ex-
pected her to be a shy and quite rural and rustic
maid, but she proved herself a young lady of speech
manners, and refinement quite above and beyond
her surroundings. The quaint room with its worn
rag-carpet, chintz-covered settle, and open fireplace
added cliarm. He noticed the ancient brass fire
dogs, and also a bunch of freshly picked lilacs in
a pitcher minus the handle on the table set with
very old blue china, while through the open win-
dows came the sweet fragrance of apple blos-
soms. All in ,11, a meal, a hostess, and a service
quite charming and unexpected.

And now a peculiar dilemma faced Stacy To
ask this dignified young lady how much he owed
for the meal, he dare not, nor even to tender her
any payment. To leave such under his plate or go
out to the field and offer it to Uncle Asa seemed
equally out of place, and how to square himself for
his entertainment was a problem. In the end, and
after profuse thanks to the girl, or rather young
lady, whom he now addressed as Miss Webster he
bethought himself of the elder and sour-spoken
Martha, stepped into her lair -the kitchen — and

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

-de ,„s exit. Outside, he glanced around tJe

ney were, house moss-coated from age bam
propped up by timbers, and in every resDecH h.
-re ancient than Uncle Asa himsS' "h^m T:
now saw back in his field, and once moTe Ll
sought hfm before departing. ^"""^

" Ye war middlin' hungry, I caHate " ,„,
Uncle Asa " '„> •.- f ' answered

■'" '"«- "«'■ ■■■■ V0.1I .1,.. hi^ 47 ■ °

"»• IVe another ti.or to .,k !•„ u ,

now can t I mduce you to

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

go with me to-morrow to show the way? I'll pay
you anything you'll accept for your time."

" VVal, I might,- responded Uncle Asa, again
sm.lmg; " jist you come 'round here arly to-morrow
n well see what we kin find. I hain't ben
troutm myself fer quite a spell 'n' I'd like a day
ott. Then, as if his hoeing must now be finished
he speedily turned to it again.

Stacy also recognizing this, and glancing at the
lowermg sun, bade him good-bye and betook him-
self away down the maple-shaded lane, at tlie up-
per end of which stood this ancient abode At it
foot and where it joined the main road, he halted
and looked back.

"Nice old man," he said to himself aloud, "and
one of Nature's noblemen. I'd like to know him
better Likewise the girl. But that old woman
was the hmit! She snatched that dollar as a hen
would a kernel of corn. I'll bet the girl isn't her
daughter, though." And then Stacy Whipple, erst-
while evil engineer, later mine prospector in the
Far West, now youngest partner in a firm able to
carry out a million-dollar contract without uneasi-
ness, and doing business in a distant city, turned
away whistling. Nothing disturbed him much or
excited him much. He had traveled widely and
observmgly. Had met and studied men of all sorts

THE CASTLE BUILDERS n

and occupations. Knew the world as it is and its
people, their vices and virtues, foibles and follies,
and now at thirty was unscathed by any serious love
affair, untainted by the underworld he had crossed
and recrossed many times, a hater of shams, a lover
of Nature, and a confirmed cynic. He was, how-
ever, in the main a genial good fellow, generous to
a fault, satisfied to remain a bachelor and make his
home with a most excellent aunt whose hobby was
house-pets and money invested in the firm of Bemis
Colby, and Company, of which Stacy was junior
partner. He also had still another and even more
mterestmg peculiarity, and that was air-castle
buildmg. No matter where he was or what in-
terested him, the moment he had time for thought
presto, up sprang one of those fantastic palaces, a
Spanish chateau! He was perpetually erecting
them m the path of his own future fo:.rnes, or of
others as well. They tinged his day dreams, and
often those by night, and . nee begun, hours were
consumed in their completion. His own fate a.,d
future as well as others' prospects were thus often
outlmed by the same magic wand. He plotted and
planned what to do himself and considered the fu-
ture of others as freely, and for the same purpose,
-merely an occupation of mind. And these day-
dream castles, these always quite perfect plans and

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

poss.b>ht.es, never failed to be luxurious, charm-
ing, grand, and beautiful in form, color, and con-
struction. And best of all, the soul-life of the
people who dwelt in them was as much so. A quite
■dylhc gathering of the best and noblest of men
and women as companions for his future In a
way h,s nature was a contradiction, and he might
fairly be called a cynical optimist.

Only one minor love episode had ever ruffled the
smooth current of his life, a rather hectic and lurid
one w.th a fair Spanish lady of dreamy eyes who
was two years his senior in age, and ten in love
expenence This " fool illusion," as he afterwards
called It, lasted just eight months; its awakening
was to find •' La Rosa Carmen " was not only lead
ing him a Cupid's dance, but at the same time in-
fatuatmg a music teacher who spent most of his
earnmgs on her and let his wife and two children
go with httle more than food and shelter. Stacy
more worldly-wise than most men, did not even hint
a reproach just packed his grip and hied himself
away to the West without even a farewell note to
his charmer. Neither did it take him long to re-
cover from this episode, for he was one to whom

^eart troubles so far had not been serious matrT
He had come up to this sequestered bvway town
located at the confluence of two streams,' shut in be

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 13

tvveen ranges of mountains and four miles from
the ocean -or at the end of an inlet called Elbow
Creek — and ten miles from the nearest railroad
station, as stated, to prospect for an available loca-
tion for an electric light and power plant for the
seaport of Barre. No hint of this must escape him
until he had made due selection and report, also se-
cured options; else the price of swamp lands would
soar in Oakdale. This was his real mission here
to fish was his excuse for it; and now, well away
from Uncle Asa's home, with two hours more of
daylight, he turned from the main road, crossed an
upward slope of bush-grown pasture, and ascended
io the top of a high hill to survey Oakdale. Back
or this lay the pathless tangle of swamp he had
crossed that day; at its foot and midway of a
pocket between low hills, the ancient gambrel-
roofed abode of Uncle Asa; to the westward, the
widely scattered farmhouses of this hill-enclosed
town, with a group of them and two churches mid-
way of the valley, while far to southward lay the
bordering ocean, white-capped and sparkling. The
widely-apart houses were mostly brown and ancient
like the one nearest him, patches of woods predomi-
nated over open fields, and the entire impress of this
hamlet was very rural, quite picturesque, and en-
tirely peaceful. Life here was self -evidently akin

THE CASli-ii BUILDERS

to the landscape, simple, quiet, and without excite-
ment or current. And just now, viewing this and
realizing this, his mission here and its probable out-
come recurred to him. Also how, by the magic of
a power he was to evoke from one of these streams,
factories would arise, new people — workers in
these' — crowd themselves into this quiet hamlet, a
trolley line supplant the old-fashioned stage that
brought him, and the great outside world come and
take slow but sure possession.

" It's a shame to spoil this sequestered nook," he
said to himself as if prophesying, " but it can't be
helped. It's the march of progress, the tide of
change and innovation." Then glancing at the sun,
nt glowing blood-red through the green trees of a
low mountain top, he made his way down into the
valley.

And just previous to this occurred another inci-
dent of this narrative which concerns the relations
of Miss Hazel Webster and her step-mother
Martha who, as the townsfolk all said, were " alius
at swords' points," as might be expected. Hazel
had witnessed through the open kitchen door the
tender of money by Stacy in payment for his meal,
had seen her mother snatch it eagerly and thrust it
into her apron pocket, and her less sordid soul re-
volted at once.

:"/r" i

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" Mother," she said, entering the kitchen, her face
aflame, as soon as Stacy was well away, " you had
no right to take a dollar frrni th^'t man for his
dinner and I am ashamed for you. He must think
us very mean and grasping."

" I'll take what's given me," returned her mother
sharply, " 'n' I dunno's it's any o' your business,
either."

" It's mine as much as yours," answered Hazel
with rising wrath, "and he will have good reason
to think us mean, I say."

" Wal, say it all you want to," snarled Martha,
turning away, " 'n' if ye don't like my way o' doin'
things ye ain't 'bleeged to stay here, I s'pose ye
know."

And poor Hazel, to whom the coming of this
woman to replace her own mother nine years be-
fore had been gall and bitterness, took herself away
for the girlish consolation of tears.

Later, when he came for his two milk pails, she
followed her father to where the cows awaited his
attention.

" Father," she said, coming to the point at once,
with eyes still red, " I can't stand mother's ways
any longer. Please, may I go away and teach
school in Barre when September comes ? There is
a girl, Jennie Oaks — you know her — she was in

X*e*»

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

school with me there, and she has promised to get
me a place. May I go, father? "

" Oh, don't ye mind Martha, little girl," he an-
swered tenderly. " She's fretty, 'n' her ways ain't
our ways. Kinder bossy, I know, but she means
well, I cal'Iate. What's up now, girlie?" And he
smiled at Hazel in his usual benign way.

And Hazel, with more spirit than he, yet as ten-
der-hearted, told him all that had happened.

" Wal, wal, don't ye mind, girlie, don't ye mind,"
he assured her soothingly. " We must put up with
Martha's ways, you 'n' L But I can't spare ye, no-
how. I — I meant well bringin' Martha here," he
added after a pause, '" better'n it's turned out,
mebbe, but I can't let ye go. I'd gin the house up
to her fust, 'n' go with ye — som'ers.

"Thar's 'nother thing I might ez well tell ye.
Hazel," he continued more tenderly, " 'n' mebbe
it'll sorter rekonsile ye to matters ez they be. I've
fixed my will so you'll git everything I kin give ye
'cordin' to law when I go, 'n' that mine stock's in
your name. When I'm through, you'll come perty
near bein' able to order her to git out if ye feel
like it. 'N'— wal, I hope ye will, girlie. Ef
'twa'n't fer the speech o' people, I'd do it myself
now." Then, and as if this assurance — never be-
fore admitted by him — must be oil upon the

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 17

troubled waters of their home life, he turned away.

And poor motherless Hazel, more heartbroken
than ever, walked slowly up the hill, biting her lips
to keep back the tears. Here she sat down beneath
her old pine tree to watch the sunset with wet eyes.

To her, just then, life seemed like that.

CHAPTER II

FOREWARNED now of what to expect from
Sam Gates, the joke-loving landlord of the
Oakdale House, Stacy halted outside " The
Corners," as that villag.,- was called, to do what all
trout fishermen ever will do — put the big ones
on top in his basket. To his surprise, also, he
found more in it than he supposed — in fact, four-
teen, and three of them would weigh a pound each
He recalled catching one extra big one early that
day, but here were three, and a total of more than
he supposed he had caught, including the six small
ones cooked for his dinner! It was a satisfying
exhibit most certainly, if unaccountable, and the
only solution, which soon came to S*acy, was that
Uncle Asa must have added some to his catch.
But how and when?

"Bless his old heart," muttered Stacy, now
spreading handfuls of fresh green grass between
each layer of fish as he repacked them, big ones on
top ; '• but he is all wool and a yard wide ! " Then,
and thus equipped to turn the tables on Sam he
strode onward, light-hearted. As he expected' lie

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 19

found that genial Boniface with a retinue of four
of the village "Old Guard" all tilted back in
chairs on tlie hotel piazza, and evidently awaiting
him as he drew near. On the face of each was an
expectant grin.

" VVal," drawled Sam as he came up, " what Inck
did ye hev? Ketch a basketful? "

" I did," returned Stacy proudly, " and the best
day's sport I ever had I That Bear Swamp brook is
a dandy ! Why, I had my basket plumb full before
I got half way through I A little brushy, of course,
but I don't mind that when trout are plenty. I've
had the day of my life and a nice mess cooked for
my dinner at a farmhouse," he added, unslinging
his basket and dropping it in front of the now
dunifounded group.

Not a word did one of them utter as Sam spread
the handsome trout side by side on the piazza while
Stacy watched him smilingly, and enjoyed his dis-
comfiture.

" You said Bear Hole Brook was the best one
for trout anywhere about here, Sam," he now
drawled in imitation of that worthy, " and it is. I
never saw its equal for big ones. How do ye like
'em, Sam?"

Then Sam Gates, the inveterate joker who had
sent many a city sportsman into this same Mohawk-

20 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

briared morass to laugh at Iiim afterwards, who
had also that afternoon sent for his four cronies
to come and enjoy this one's detailed experience
now stared first at the array of big trout, then
glanced furtively at Stacy's smiling face and then
at the grinning ones of the Old Guard and sank
back mto his chair crestfallen.
_^ " Wal. by hokey, it beats n-c." he gasped.
•Knocks me dar inter the middle o' last week!
But you're the fust man who ever cum out o' B'ar
Hole with a string like that, you be!" And he
looked helplessly around at his cronies.

And then, as if by one accord, they burst into
simultaneous laughter !

" Guess it's on yew, Sam," drawled Bascom, the
leader of the four, " 'n' 'bout time to set >m up
'fore we go hum to supper, ain't it, Sam? "

And Sam Gates, conscious that the tables had
been turned on him handsomely, ejaculated, " 'Tis
I guess; come on," and led the way into his bar-
room.

It was also many moons ere he heard the last
of his futile and loudly proclaimed joke on this
"city feller," and its outcome.

That evening, also, when he and Stacy were
alone on the piazza enjoying an after-supper cigar
and cool air, there came from him, as might be ex-

THE CASTL!- BUILDERS 2,

pected. a revelation anent Uncle Asa Webster and
his family history, now especially interesting to
Stacy.

" Yaas, Uncle Asa's a nice man." he cj.iculated
m response to Stacy's description of how he had
been cared for and fed; "one o' the salt of the
airth. 'n' friend o' everybody. His gal. Hazel, too
>s sweeter'n peaches 'n' cream, though .she holds her-
^If kmder 'bove the Oakdale boys, howsomever.
She teaches school over west side to kinder help
out. 'n' sings in meetin', too. She don't hit it off
w.th her stepmother, though, wuth a cuss. Alius
naggm' one anuther. they say. 'n' nobody's s'prised
fer this un-she was the Widder Raker 'fore she
ketched Uncle Asa - alius was a Tartar. She's a
schemer, too, this Martha Eaker as w,is Got Jake
to deed over his place to her, take out some in-
surance fust go-off. 'n- then druv him to drink with
her tantrums, 'n' the Jims finally, so he hung him-
self m the barn. She had two boys, wuthless
scamps, too. Uncle Asa says the only thing they'll
ac willingly is git 'round to meals on time He's
a mce man, ez I said, but he got roped in by the
vvidder.

" He got took in wuss'n that, too, 'n' 'bout the
same time." added Sam after pausing to relight his
cigar, " 'n' by a feller named Curtis North. Slick

22 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

feller, too, who come up here fishin', '„• sold him
fo..r thcsand dollars wuth o' minin' stock not
wuth a cuss. Skun Uncle Asa out o' all his savin's
with his palaver. This feller, North, was the
smartest talker I ever saw. Said he war a banker
also, n- looked the part with his white side-
whiskers 'n' jovial red face, city togs. '„• watch fob
b.g ez a hen's egg. He stayed 'round here two
weeks to do the trick. Got Uncle Asa to take him
hshm, went to prayer meetin' 'n' talked 'bout how
he loved the Lord 'n' tried to do His biddin', 'n' all
that rot. He ketched me, too, by hokey," Sam ad-
mitted after another pause. " Ketched me fer five
hundred o' his cussed stock in the Rawhide Gold
Mining and Reduction Company ez the sartificate
has printed on it in big gold letters. Likewise ten
per cent, cumulative dividends payable in gold,
i hey must a' ben cumulatin' ever sence, fer I hain't
seen any. I've got that sartificate framed jist to
prove to myself how many kinds o' damn fool a
man kin be 'n' live."

"Did you try Bear Hole Swamp on this
''harper?" mterrupted Stacy, laughing. "And if
so, how did he take it ? "

" I did, o' course," responded Sam with a droll
look, but It didn't ketch him; he was too slick.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 23

Jist turned tail ':, -on. back. Said he didn't feel
niuch hke fish „ that day. 'd give up 'nother hun-
dred, though, iis to drop ,im plumb in the middle
o that tangle , ... ;.. i„ck, howsomever."

"Where was this mine swindle located'"
queried Stacy, recalling the scores of them he had
heard about.

"Why, in Rawhide. Nevada, it sez in a little
book this sliarper give out 'round here, 'n' thar war
a pictur o' the town in it, too, with lots o' big build-
ms, two meetin' houses, 'n' shops with tall chim-
neys n' smoke comin' out on 'em. Nice pictur,
looked hke everybody thar wuz gittin' rich hand
over fist. One big buildin' had ' Ba.Jc ' over its
door n' fh,s sharper said he was president on't.
Oh, he did the trick up good 'n' slick!

"The curis part," he added reflectively, after
another pause, "is that Uncle Asa won't believe
y.t he hez ben swindled. Thinks that mine'U pan
out all right some day 'n' make Hazel rich. He had
the shares made out in her name, too. Why he's
the kind o' man as hears larks singin' all day in
the sky n he'd squeeze sunshine out o' cucumbers
he would."

Much more of the current gossip regarding
Uncle Asa, his termagant wife, their home life, and

o-f-wse i«x.:'.«t'iiA.

•w«^Ki-<-mf-^?f^

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

especially Hazel and the many fellows who had
sought to be her "beau" and failed, was now
added by this talkative Boniface. Only two por-
tions of it interested Stacy even casually : Hazel's
evident superiority to her environment, her out-of-
placeness here, and that about the comical side-
whiskered sharper who was able to make a fool of
a keen-witted Yankee landlord. That seemed very
funny to Stacy. And for that reason this chap's
distinctive face, white whiskers, watch fob and all
— a type quite familiar to Stacy — pursued him
even to his room and for a half-hour while he
smoked, watched the now moonlit landscape, and
vainly tried to locate a man he was positive of
having seen, sometime — somewhere. Up and
down the land and back and forth across the con-
tinent he traveled in thought and ever on the look-
out for this exuberant yet elusive face, that like a
will-o'-the-wisp, one among thousands, persisted in
evading him. At last he came upon it in a little
smoke-dimmed, lamp-lit back room of a mining
camp saloon, and one of seven men gathered
around a table playing poker. He recalled the
group now distinctly, all red-shirted, with hats on
and smoking, and all but this side-whiskered one
belted with ominous " guns " with stocks protrud-
ing from holsters. The one most pertinent inci-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 25

dent of this ordinary camp gambling scene was
that Stacy noticed and noted how one of the belted
poker players — a slim, sinister-eyed Mexican —
and the white-whiskered one, were evidently pals
and, sitting side by side, now and then passed one
another cards. It wasn't Stacy's funeral, as he
then thought — it might have been had he made
known the facts — but he was too camp-wise to
mix into what was not his business, so merely
watched the cut-throat game curiously for an hour
and then left the den. He now recalled seeing
these two together the next day, and only the sharp
contrast of their personal appearance — he of the
whiskers, well-clad, rotund, and clean ; the Greaser,
filthy and wearing leggins, a red tie, much soiled
red shirt, a nbrero — fixed them in his mind,

and as a pai. , unhanged rascals.

That one had escaped well-merited justice and
after hatching a swindling scheme had come to
this peaceful hamlet to " do " these honest folk was
evident. That good and trustful Uncle Asa would
never receive one penny of his investment was also
as self-evident, and the only return was the comical
one expressed by Sam Gates of, " how many kinds
of a damn fool a man could be and live."

One more corroborative recollection also came to
Stacy, which was that this mining camp — a group

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

of a dozen framed buildings and a Inmdred stone
sod. and brush-thatched liovels-was called Raw-
hide.

Another and much pleasanter feature of his one
Ms sojourn here now superseded him of the
whiskers, and somehow, just now, in the utter si-
lence of his room and looking out upon the moonlit
mountam, Stacy's thoughts recurred to Hazel once
more. Her sweet face first seen bent over an anto-
harp, her two dainty feet pointing upwards, and
even the metallic tinkle of " Don't You Hea- D--m
Bells A-Rmging?" now came back to him. Then
he saw her as the gracious little hostess, serving
h.m a meal as rare as the day itself; neither shy
nor forward, just charmingly polite, thoughtful,
and d,gn,fied, with the poise that only contact with
refined and cultured people could give. A little
lady, m fact, sweet, piquant, and charming

" Where did she get it all? " Stacy thought, now
preparu,g for slumber. •' Certamly not in this tank
town or that old rookery. Either she's been away
and learned fast, or it's a case of to the manner
born. I d like to see more of her, anyhow "

T.ntle did he now realize how this simple country
S.rl, with eyes like a peep .nvo a well, was destined
to upset all his placid cynicism and serene satisfac-
tion with himself, and lead him a veritable devil's
dance of despair.

CHAPTER III

TAL, did ye kinder turn the tables on
Sam ? " queried Uncle Asa the next
morning, after Stacy's arrival at his
ancient abode, and the mutual greeting.

" I did," the younger one responded, " thanks to
you, sir, for two things; the tip, and the trout you
added to my catch."

" Wal, I'm glad on't," returned Uncle Asa, smil-
ing benignly. " I owe Sam more'n I kin ever pay
back in jokes, ye see. Ez fer the trout, I yanked
a few outen a pen I keep a lot in, in the medder,
jist to top off your string 'n' open Sam's eyes.
I've got a couple o' boys — Martha's "— he ex-
plained, glancing at the house, " who like fishin' bet-
ter'n work, 'n' ter keep peace, 'n' th';m out o' mis-
chief i gin 'em ten cents apiece fer all the live trout
they fetch m» We'll take a look at 'em, 'n' then
start I've got the bait dug 'n' boss hitched up."
And this genial optimist led the way to the trout
pen. It was :i cunningly devised one, a trench four
rods long and perhaps five feet wide and two feet
27

28 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

deep, dug near the brook Stacy had followed
through the swamp, and full to the brim from a
screened inlet from that. Its bottom was of white
sand and gravel, one end boarded over for cover,
and in this pen were certainly a hundred handsome
trout.

" I like to feed 'cm, 'n' sit 'n' watch 'em now 'n'
then," Uncle Asa admitted. "It's kinder like
company; 'n' so does Hazel. Trout alius seem to
mc like they had minds o' their own," he added,
looking fondly at them. " 'n' could figger out we was
mortal enemies to 'em. Yer can't fool a trout no-
how. Yer can't ketch him nappin', either. If he
sees ye fust, ye don't see him in a brook. I guess
we'd best be startin'," he continued, squinting at the
rising sun. " We'd orter started two hours ago in
the cool o' the mornin'."

Stacy glanced searchingly all around the house,
into the garden, and up towards the big pine, while
Uncle Asa was backing the horse and ancient car-
ryall out from the shed, but saw nothing of Hazel.
And then they drove away. To Stacy, also, it
seemed curious that this old man should so willingly
leave his work for an entire day to take him fishing,
without an hour's acquaintance, as he had. Yet it
had so come about. He also though; of "his
whiskers," as he already began to call this Curtis

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 29

North in his mind, and wondered if he, too, had
been so treated on sight. He also longed to ask
Uncle Asa about him, but dared not as yet. In-
stead, and to allay all suspicion of his own real er-
rand here, he gave an explicit statement of how
busy a man he was in the city, how he had been
unable to find time for even a day's vacation for
years until now, and that Oakdale (heard of
through a friend) had seemed an ideal spot to pass
a week in.

" It is a perty quiet town," Uncle Asa admitted
at this conclusion; "nobody gits rich here, 'n' no-
body gits poor. We jist raise 'nuff ter eat, buy
a few clothes 'n' pay the parson fer savin' our
souls, 'n' that's 'bout all we need, anyhow. I like
livin' here," he added retrospectively, " 'n' I've ben
away jist 'nufif ter knew how comfortin' 'tis. I've
ben to Barre a few times, ben ter your city once,
'n' I wouldn't live in either place if I wuz paid fer't.'
Too much doin', 'n' too much noise. Then agin,
salt water's only four mile away down the crick.'
I've got a boat, 'n' 'bout twice a week or so I go
down it 'n' ketch some clams or fetch home some
lobsters fer a change. I alius take Hazel 'long
when school ain't keepin'," he admitted tenderly.
" She Hkes the fun, 'n' smell o' salt air same ez I
do. Thar's whar she teaches," he asserted proudly,

30 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

and pointing to the brown roadside schoolhouse
they were nearing. "It's jist a mile 'n' a half
walk, 'n' a rule to The Corners whar she goes ter
meetin' 'n' sings Sundays."

It was self-evident that this Hazel was about all
her father lived for.

" This is Rocky Glen brook," he declared, now
crossing one a mile up the narrow valley above the
village. " It splits jist ahead, 'n' the main stream
comes down out o' a gorge ter the left o' the stage
road we're on. I'm goin' ter take ye 'round ter
the head 'o that 'n' let ye tish down. Then I'll
come back to the forks 'n' fish 'totl.er brook while
I wait. Arter that, 'n' if ye hain't ketched nuff by
then, we'll go up the stage road 'n' strike the small
brook. You'll find Rocky Glen perty good Sshin'
though."

And so it proved, for once on it Stacy found
liimself at the upper end of a wide canyon in the
mountains west of Oakdale, with a sizable brook
and just pitch enough to make pools and cascades
adown its laughing course. Trout were fairly
plenty in these, no brush to interfere, and by noon
when he reached the lower end of this vale his
basket was full of speckled beauties.

And now came another surprise, for here at the

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 31

foot of this oval valley, rather than canyon, its
enclosing hills narrowed to a gateway not fifty rods
from the stage road.

He had cnnip to Oakdale to find a site for a
dam and space for water storage upon some suit-
able stream where land was of little value — a rare
combination in any settled country — and here was
an ideal location facing a fertile valley within five
miles of tide water!
It seemed prophetic!

And now, from where he had climbed part way
up one of these abutting hills, he could overlook
the scattered farmhouses of Oakdale, The Corners
or nucleus of dwellings, stores, and two churches
that composed it, and away to the bordering line
of ocean. Then, and given to air-castle building as
he always was, he saw a group of factories just
below this wato-- gap, beyond and in place of The
Corners a populous city, and further on where the
blue rim of old ocean gleamed in the sunlight, an
array of the masts of vessels at anchor in a harbor.
He did not as yet know if one were there at the
outlet of the stream; he did know that the mighty
arm of Commerce would dig and construct one if
needed. And so for a half-hour, this man of many
plans and Ijacked by money power sat building his

f1|

32 THE CASTLI- BUILDERS

air castle of a new city .„ arise from the niagic

Po«cr of a stren,,, ten ro,ls below hin,, whose un-

ud energy had l.en running to waste since the
(lawn of creation !

"Who owns the land alongside the brook I've

r; of "r "'"' "°"'^''="^""^ °^ Uncle Asa
thca",. '";'"' "'^'='"''^°-P-^'l™'- on

uZ T u ''°"' "^ ™"« 'he best of the
tittiber has been cut away."

Sn'm^r ': "'.' '°"" ""' ^' ^'^'"^ -^"^'n belongs to
Sam Gates, responded Uncle Asa, " 'n' the upoer
- .o the Widder Lewis, Aunt Huldah, leTi;

San,'/ ■" "f! ' '""'"^ ^'■""■'h °' -^''-^^'nut o.
barn s pr. „ he had 'em cut 'n' sold ter the rail-
road fer ties 'bout six years ago."

"The land isn't worth much now, I take it'"
quened Stacy cautiotisly once more

"No, hardly wuth taxin'." answered Uncle Asa

I beheve U's put in fer a dollar an acre bv Squire
Phumey He's fust seleckman, tax 'sesson 'n' the
whole thmg here, ye know."

And .hen came the secondary feature of the en-
joyment of a day's outing, the midday lunch

I ve brung along a little snack," asserted Uncle
Asa aft H,s exchange and glancing up at the
sun. ^ I g„ess it's 'bout time to injie it."

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And he led the way to whore he had hitched his
sedate nag hy the roadside.

" 'Tain't nnich, I don't s'pose," he added apolo-
getically, an,l drawing a large wooden box from
beneath the carryall seat. " I told Hazel to put
up the best she could, howsomever." Then he
seated himself on a shaded bit of greensward and
opened the box.

And now Stacy was impressed by the house-
wifely abilities of Miss Hazel, for the first iten,
taken out was a small strawberry shortcake, next
came a plate of cold boiled ham wrapped in a nap-
km, then slices of buttered bread, boiled eggs
doughnuts, cheese, and some pickles wrapped in an-
other napkin.

Stacy in his hustling, bustling business and pros-
ting hfe and wanderings had eaten all kinds of
meals, from the best a first-class hotel could furnish
to a slice of jerked venison washed do.-n with
lukewarm water from a canteen on the plains, but
never one that so woke the zest of good appetite
as this. And best of all, the box it came from ex-
baled the mingled odor of summer savorv and
sage, recalling his early boyhood and mother's
pantry.

He had occasion to recall it many times after-
wards.

n I'

34 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

"You told me o„ ,I,e w.-.y up here," asserted
Uncle Asa after the " s.,ack " had been duly dis-
posed of and Stacy had lit his cigar, "that youd
ben west a few times kimler lookin' up mines fer
your firm. Did ye ever in your join's round hear
o the Rawhide Gold Minin' Cotupany in Nevada
some rs ?

"No. I never did," answered Stacy, startled at
the ^abruptness of the question. "Why do you

" Wai. nothin' special, only I didn't know but
ye rrnght 'a' heerd on't if ye wu. i,, xNevada," and
Uncle Asa looked at Stacy with his kindly, trustful
eyes, then away, and back at Stacy a^ain

" I dunno but I may ez well tell ye, Mr. Whipple -
l.e contmued after this pause. "Ye seem kinder
square n' honest, '„- I kinder took to ye on sight
e^ .t war." Then and in his quaint drawl and
dmlect he told the story in full that Stacy had al-
ready heard outlined, with many auditions. First
how this Curtis North had come to his home of-
fering ample pay to be taken out fishing, how he
had repeated this method of getting acquainted two
or three t.n,es with many assertions of his own
honesty, wealth, prosperity, and how rich a mine
he m reahty owned; and finally, how he (Uncle
Asa) had been lured to inves* all his savings in

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 35

stock of .his „,ine. It uas an old s.orv ,0 Stacy
f '■■"' !'^''-'^<J '"""y ^in'i'ar experiences, and yet

sympathy and interest as no other one ever had
^ An,l yet he dare not now disillusionize Uncle

"I '"egin to worry consid'ble 'bout it." the old
."an adnmted after the tale wa, told. " I p ,„
every dollar I'd saved „p for Hazel, she's ^^ J

lusto„,yheart.'n'thar'sthefixr„,i„. .rb-
that „me I ham't heerd a word from it. I wuz in
hopes you. ^oin' round Nevada ez ye hev mi^ V
nin onto this mine out thar." ^

"No,'; answered Stacy, now feeling th.-,t he

- g- a hundred dollars to see this C.t
North danghng from a rope's end; "I can't Jiv

- Iw,sh could. I can. however, obtain all

t"orrr:rte:r'^r'''"^'^'---p°-

by whom T. T r """^ "P''tali==ed for, and
Ami, ^ '''" '"■■'■'>• ^'" ^^''e" I return to

Albion and write you full particulars " A.Tl

a..ad%bt came to the fac'; of u:"e Asa."'' '''■■'

-Jn'n;;ir°°^ ''-''" •'-^''''"-^■"w

"Ivva'n'ttheonlydumfool.ifdumfoollwar."

36 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

he added, smiling again, " for Sam Gates put in
five hundred dollars, too, 'n' he's counted the sharp-
est man in town. Funny, too, fer that was the very
money he got fer his chestnut saplings cut from
longs,de the brook you've ben fishin' on You
mustn't tell him, either," he continued after a pause
He thmks, -n' everybody thinks, I'm sure, it'll all

pan out right in time. Hazel thinks I believe so, too
n I wouldn't hev her know different fer the world.

" ud break her heart ter know I wuz worryin' at

my time o' life."

"Oh, well, it may turn out right after all," re-
turned Stacy assuringly. "Anyhow, it won't do
any good to worry. Worry will kill a cat, they say
Uncle Asa, and my theory is that the only thing
worth worrying about is our own health. As for
this mme mvestment, try to forget it. I would if
1 were you."

"I like your idee o' grit," answered Uncle Asa
more buoyantly, "but I kin see ye hain't no idee
I n^ ever g,t a cent back outen that mine, now hev

"I won't admit that, not yet," asserted Stacy
wuh well-assumed confidence. "I shall probably
go to Nevada this fall on business for my firm, and
I II look that m.ne up, I promise you, and report the
facts to you.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS ^y

Then Uncle Asa sprang to his feet and extended
his hand with eagerness. " Say, Mr. Whipple," he
asserted after the mutual clasp, "youVe lifted a
b.g load off'n my heart, 1 tell ye. Now I want you
to promise to make yourself to hum at my house
wh.Ie you re stayin' here. Come over any time
you feel hke it, '„' any time you want ter go fishin'.
J.st say the word '„' I'll take ye. Mebbe, too, ye'd
hke ter go down the creek with me 'n' Ha^eI arter
clams We cud take 'long a couple o' her gal
fronds, too-the boat's big 'nuff-'n' hev a ciL
bo.I than You bein' a young man 'ud enjoy that
sartin." ■' ■' '

of the Oakdale House, after Stacy had insisted he
take home two-thirds of the trout so that his
family could have an ample meal, Stacy's intended
sojourn here promised to be a charming one to him.

And that evenmg also brought another pleasant
assurance from Landlord Sam.

"You've jist plumped right down inter good

liT tV."""' '""•" ''^ ^=-^^^d after slcy
had described his day's experience, luck, lunch, and

h art 'tho„r"' 'T'"" '"' "'''' *° Uncle Asa's
heart thout any effort, 'n' he's a winner fer cnter-
tamin' folks he likes. Then thar's Hazel, bright ez
a button n perty ez a pink, 'thout any beau ! Why.

38 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

young man, you've got a picnic long's you stay
here! I wish I was your agel What a heap o'
fun I'd hev! "
It looked that way to Stacy.

CHAPTER IV

THE next morning, returning from the hill
back of Uncle Asa's - visited for further
inspection of Bear Hole swamp valley for
possible reservoir use -Stacy espied the polite
hostess whose culinary abilities had been so con-
soling. She was below him in a pasture, partially
squatted on the ground, dressed in the same faded
cahco as when first seen by him, also calico sun-
bonnet, and busy picking strawberries.

And just then, conscious that he was unseen by
her, Stacy halted to consider whether he should
advance, accost her, and enjoy a chat, or keep on
his way back to the hotel.
And this for reasons that must be explained
To begin, he was. as stated, a confirmed cynir.
and while not a woman hater, his one hectic love
experience had convinced him that love is a most
charming and delightful illusion in the beginning
but a bitter and painful one in the end. Also, that
■ts natural sequence is marriage, and he was
firmly and fully determined that he should never
let any of the fair sex lure him to that outcome.
39

40 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

He was also conscious of a more than passing in-
terest already in this girl. Her sweet and piquant
face and dainty form, and more especially her dig-
nity and refinement, coupled with a certain sweet
sunphcty, had already been noticed and noted by
him. He had also been informed that she had
no recognized admirer, and held herself above the
country swains of Oakdale, and was unhappy i„
her home relations with a stepmother. More than
that, he had been accorded the open sesame to that
home by her father,- in fact, urged to accept it,-
and the gateway to an idyllic love romance thus
opened wide for him to enter.
But should he?

It is said that the current of Chance sways and
swmgs and impels us hither and yon as it wills, and
he strongest are as thistle-down in its power
Whether that be true or not, Chance determined
Stacy s action just then, for while he yet waited un-
decded, the girl arose, looked up and saw him
watchmg her. There was but one courteous course
kft h,m now -to advance and greet her who had
been his hostess as a gentleman should, and he did
so.

"Good morning. Miss Webster," he said, nearing
her and raising his hat. " I saw you from up back
here and waited for you to look up so you wouldn't

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 4,

think I meant to pounce upon you again. Are you
making ready for another as delicious a shortcake
as^I shared with your father yesterday?"

" I am," she answered, smiling at the graceful
comphment. " and if you go fishing with him again
to-morrow, perhaps you will have some of it "

"Or. better still, if I am invited to your house
for supper to-night I'll get it then," he answered.

"You most certainly will — if invited," she re-
turned with just a faint touch of irony.
^'1 But shall I get it? " he questioned.
" Yes, and two pieces if you are there."
" I mean the invitation," he explained.
"Why, yes, if you see father before supper
titne, she responded naively. " He has taken quite
a hking to you already."

" I'm glad," he answered more soberly " for I
think your father is a very nice man, and so sun-
sh.ny. The landlord of your hotel says he hears
larks smging in the sky all day."

"He isn't as much so as he once was," she re-
plied soberly; "he -he is older, you know."

No wonder," thought Stacy, "with that Tartar
wife and money sunk in a mine swindle." Then
aloud, "I admire a man who can retain cheerful-
tiess and hear even now and then a lark through
old age. Few of us can ever hope for tliat But

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

how about the invitation to snpper? Please «ay I

.ZuZ'T ''°" "' '°' °"'=' y°" «"-' have it. I
he h , '"''"""""' '■"'■""^'y- "='"d you are

hereby and now properly invited to supper at my
home. Maple Dell, this evening, six-thiny sharpT"
And so Its Maple Dell you call it? Well
many thanks. Til be there on time. Evening dTes
or J ust ordinary ? " ^ ^

"Oh evening, by all means." she returned smil-

ZlTmf'"^""'''=™^"'°°''^ ---•'-"
gentleman m proper attire."

Then, and as if she had granled him all the en-
couragen,ent he deserved, she turned to her berry-

eldlT'" ^"' ''-''• '"°- "'^ -- ■•-cr-
ested .n th,s rusfc maid with the ease and speech

of a c,ty bred belle, now plumped down on his
knees beside her to assist.

For a most charming half-hour he kept at it
c ttmg meanwhile, eating a few berries, followi ^
her about, and now and then peeping slyly at hef
P.quant face smiling out of the depths of that coa
scoop bonnet. Once she caught him at it, flushed
s^'ghtly a d after that he obtained no mo e peeps
A wee httle chill, also, began to tinge the tone of
her vo,ce from that moment on. for Stacy was
blessed (or .mpeded) by rather compelling black

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 43

eyes that, as someone described such, " bored into
you like gimlets." His speech was always softly
modulated, unless in anger, and the one baleful
factor in his make-up was his cynicism, that per-
sisted in adding a lurking scorn to his glances. He
was keen, also, in reading moods, and it soon
dawned on him that this fair maid either felt afraid
of him, distrusted him, or that he had offended her
by word or glance. She had met his first advances
and appeal for an invitation to supper in a pretty,
half-coquettish way, and then, presto, had, as he
would put it, " frozen up."

"I hope you didn't feel that I was intruding
when I coaxed you for an invitation to supper. Miss
Webster," he said, rising v.-hen the pail was full.
" I didn't mean to, certainly, and my excuse is a
double one,— I wanted to get better acquainted
with you, and another taste of your shortcake. It
is even better than my mother used to make."

" That suggests country origin," she responded,
ignoring his well-meant compliment, and rising; " I
thought you were a city-bred man."

" I am and I am not. I was born in the country,
but left it at sixteen, and since then, I must admit,
I've been subject to the unholy influences of the
city. You don't like city men, I infer, by your
tone ?"

(

44 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

"I didn't mean you should infer anything," she
answered coolly, and turning her expLive ev
ul upon h,n, "I naturally distrust city n,en, b"
I do not speak in riddles."

JyZT'rT ^'"'' ""' '^"P'^d '° ^^k 'he
oetter senst prevailed.

for to the best of my observation, few are worth
even a man's confidence. n,uch less a woman's."

laughmg hghtly, and turning to go

" I hope we may find other points of agreement
a^^om^^^uetm.." he said, taking two Lps her
r;favort"°"''"'°"^°"«°''"^^^-^-

m"isitP"'"^"^^^°'"'^^^-- 'anyone.

"Why, your auto-harp, this evening, after the
shortcake, and the same tune I first thought wa
gnos mus,c, the day I scared you so. It hVs bZ
tmkhng m my ears ever since "

she bowed and left h,m''''' ^""^"^ ^"rupt,
And Stacy, conscious that he had made no prog-

TvsT»-'(r>«^

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 45

ress whatever in the good graces of tliis cool and
piquant maid, raised his hat deferentially, said
•' Good-bye," in the same cool tone, and strode away
in opposite direction.

And recalling the various fair ones he had met
so far, or more especially how acquaintance with
them first began, it recurred to him that never one
had so frozen him at the start. In a way, also, it
was an abrupt change from her demeanor as host-
ess, for then she was politely gracious, while now
she was politely cool. Now, and as this compar-
ative mood was on, his bete noire, the Spanish
beauty, recurred, also, and how her subtle flatteries
and delicately-veiled insinuations of love-interest
first led him on.

" Thank God, she isn't like her ! " he exclaimed
aloud, at this juncture. "Rather ice or marble
than that love trickster for me ! "

He little realized just then that it is the maid of
ice or marble nature that usually wakens the fiercest
love in man.

" There is something back of her chilliness," he
continued musingly, and now more than ever
pained by it. "When she served me that mid-
afternoon meal, she was gracious sweetness person-
ified, and quite charming; now, and after she has
seen that her father accepts me as a good fellow,

- !'
I'

46 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

worth taking fishing- a snre sign that a man likes
another -she suddenly freezes up and treats me
1 I were a gentleman pickpocltetl And I never
tned harder to be nice to a girl in r^y HfeJ j can't
understand it ! "

Then, and as is natural to a man who first begins
to take notice of a maid, he began an analytical
survey of tliis one. Her perfectly ladylike de-
meanor and command of language, showing cul-
ture and refinement; her poise and self-possession
so unusual in such a rustic maid; her quick per-
ception of what was proper to say and do toward
h.m, a stranger, and minor features of her conduct
M conspired to outline a most charming young lady.
Her personal appearance came ne.xt in this survey
Her dehcate features, flower-like face, red-ripe lips
and more es,^cially her eyes -like deep wat/. '
each and all recurred to him, and details of her , o
as well. He had noticed that she wore but .ne
nng. a pearl solitaire, while the two dresses he had
seen her in -a faded calico and wlutc pique -
whde perfectly fitting, were severely plain and prob-
ably homemade. All in all, it was evident that
no money had ever been lavished on her Her
home, also, ca-, in for review. Its old and worn-
out condition ..as almost pitiful, and, while neat
and well kept within, poverty was written all

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 47

about, even to the homemade wiiiflow screens of
mosquito nettinj;.

He had been well, even cordially nccived there,
in Good Samaritan manner. Uncle Asa — good
old soul! — had, metaphorically speaking, opened
his arms to him on sight, given him some nice trout
to disconitit Sam, taken him fishing, confided his
troubles to him, and treated him with unexpected
consideration, in sharp contrast to Miss Hazel's
frosty manner. And the reason for it was an al-
most exasperating riddle I

She was an unattended maid, according to all
reports. Old enough and wise enough; also poor
enough not to frown upon a fairly good-looking,
intelligent, and prosperous young man. who had
tried his best to be nice to her, he thought ! It ivas
certainly past understanding!

Other vexatious and sharp contrasts soon came
his way. The dinner at the hotel that day (corned
beef and cabbage — a combination that revolted his
soul) was an abomination. The waiting maid,
clad in greasy, almost filthy raiment, was chewing
gum; the dishes, knives and forks smellei! of stale
ham fat, and each part of that meal was in objec-
tionable contrast 10 the dainty one served him at
Uncle Asa's bv Hazel, with the perfume of lilac
blossoms to add zest.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Ifl

Tht aft moon, a ho. seemed a long one ,o him.

rllh k! T' ''"" '° ^"'^ '° '>- partner
Colby, about the two available sites for .lam' pZ

rx^soir '° '"'■" """• p™"^"" -' °^ >-d.

row M *^ '" '"^"'■■«^"°" f the Rawhid

Gold Mmmg Company. Then, as the landlorH
was away in a field, .v..,,,. and none f h" o d
Guar about. Stacy h.d „au«h, else to do ex«
s.t on the deserted piazza, smoke, and watch "or
passmg teams. And. to the best of his obser a.ion
he nnly hv,„g creature he saw in two hou T;
h-s. was one lone dog, tl,at trotted by. By this
^.me he was almost lonesome enough to'brave pt
pr ty by g„„,g ,n,o the kitchen and visiting with
that slovenly serving-maid

And not a half-mile away was the tnost charm-

■ng of country lassies, bright enough to giv h^

a Roland for every Oliver, and a lilac-shadll norcT

o do jt on, Also possessed of an auto- 4 and

the abihty to play it like an Houri !

The strawberry-shortcake supper, to which he
had almost begged an invitation, would probab^
be served about six o'clock. At exactly fouThe
r t red o h,s room to get ready. As might be ex
pected just now- when anxious to look his best-
he cut h,mself shaving. ,rew vexed, found bm
one new clean collar in his outfit, and got ood o„

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 49

that, grew more angry, and at five, precisely, started
for Uncle Asa's.

And soon, entering the maplc-shadcd lane lead-
ing to it, its cool ch^iiii and the romantic name,—
Maple Dell,— given by Hazel to the coign or pocket
where the house stood, recurred to him. It was
like a sight of her, an impression she created, and
suggestive of her. The dooryard, next entered,
was another, for its graveled walk was bordered
by rows of nasturtiums, just beginning to bloom,
not a weed was visible in or around the beds of
phlox, peonies, sweet Williams, and bachelor but-
tons scattered over the yard, which, enclosed by
a hedgerow of arbor vitae, was neatness personified.
The house itself, half hidden by the two luxuriant
clumps of lilac abutting upon the front corners,
with big syringa bushes flanking its trellised porch,
and moss-coated by age, was the one pitiful fe.iture
and suggestive of an ancient tombstone. A pleas-
anter picture next appeared in Hazel, now respond-
ing to his knock on the open door, who, with a slight
smile and " Good evening, sir," invited him to enter.
" I must be excused," she added, after taking his
hat and ushering him into the parlor. " I am cook
and waiting maid both, you see, and father will
soon he in to entertain you."

" So it's fatlier whose guest I am," mused Stacy

so THE CASTLE BUILDERS

after she left the parlor, and then he looked curi-
ously around th.s antique " keeping room." It was

array of b,g red and yellow flowers and green

";:%;?'" °: '""^ '■^■■^'^'°"'- °^^ «-'""

see" s If' T """^"^"^ °' Revolutionary
scenes and family portraits on walls, all bespoke
a past generation. The one half-modern tat
was a square p.ano, on which lay the auto-harp he
had seen Hazel playing, and a banjo. The two
pertinent features suggestive of herself wer a
book-filled what-not beside the piano and big

S acy had scarcely completed this inventory when
Uncle Asa, arrayed in ill-becoming "biled"Ih7rt
and pepper-and-salt suit, came in.

half'T ^'''^ '° ''' ^'' ^'- ^'^■PP'^-" he said, with
hand-clasp as cordial as his tone; "'„' you mustn't
fee yourself company jest 'cause I dre'sed u^
dont hke store clothes," he added confidentLly
now seatmg himself on a chair as if afraid he wo d
s hp off " but Martha said I must put 'em on ' '
oner keeps wimmin good-natered to do e they

::-.^:o:^r;t:d;ir^---

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

here Hazel chums with, 'n' one from Barre, who
comes summers 'n' stays quite a spell. You see,
Hazel was thar to school a couple o' years, 'n'
stayed one winter, too, 'n' it's sorter spiled the
young fellers here fer her. Kinder gin her notions
'bout 'em."

" That isn't surprising," responded Stacy, " and
I presume a girl of her refinement may not enjoy
farmers' sons, unless above the average."

" Wal, that's the how on't, sartin," asserted
Uncle Asa, r,s if all of Hazel's notions must be
right ; " 'n' gal-s that's kinder got teched by city ways
ain't goin' ter put up wi fellers that ain't p'tic'lar
how they look, 'n' come to see a gal with cowhides
on. 'Tain't nat'ral.

" We got a little trip fixed up fer to-morrow,"
he continued, after a pause; " the one I spoke about
to go down tlie crick with the tide, dig some clams,
'n' hev a boil. I kin pull my pots, too — hain't
done it I'er three da>o. 'n' Hazel 'n' them two chums
o' hers is goin', too. I'd like ye to jine us."

" I shall be most happy to do so," returned Stacy,
wondering if his going was suggested by Uncle Asa
first or by Hazel, yet glad of the chance. "I
imagine such an outing might be great fun. What
time shall you .start ? "

"Oh, 'bout nine, when the ebb tide makes: ye

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

see, it's four miles down the crick, 'n' we alius go
'n' come with the tide. We'll take along a few
fixin's 'n' things to cook with," he explained, " 'n'
make a day on't. I'm sorry this friend o' Hazel's
from Barre ain't here ter go," he added, after a
pause, " fer she's chock full o' fun, while these
two other gals is kinder bashful, 'n' mebbe'll be a
little afeard o' you." Then Martha appeared,
garbed in shiny black silk with jet trimmings, Stacy
was duly introduced, she said, " Our tea is ready,
sir," in ceremonious manner, and led the way into
their living-room, where Hazel awaited them.

Tea-table conversation with a stranger is almost
invariably forced, stilted, and painful. On this oc-
casion, and evidently a state affair in Martha's
mind, her attempts at it were as graceful as a cow
trying to waltz, for, evidently imbued with the
citified importance of Stacy, or the magic of the
dollar he had tendered her for a dinner, it appeared
to him that her sole wish was to flatter him nauseat-
ingly. And she succeeded to that extent in short
order. In vain he evaded and disclaimed her at-
tempts, and when he, as was obligatory, praised the
shortcake, with rich cream poured over it, he felt
sure that she would answer. " If 'twas all cream,
it wouldn't be any too good for you. sir."

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 53

But he was spared that cHmax of absurd flattery,
for Uncle Asa got ahead of her.

"Shortcake's good vittles," he mumbled, his
mouth full of it, " 'n' nothin' better, 'speshly if ye
put plenty o' cream on't. This wuz Hazel's, 'n' all
right. She took arter her mother in knowin' how
to make 'em. 'N' do ye know, Mr. Whipple," he
added, as if to crush Martha, "I alius cal'late
knowin' how to cook is sorter inherited. Now,
thar wuz Hazel's mother; she made shortcake jist
like this, no better, though, 'n' 'twas eatin' one on
'em fust set me to thinkin' I wanted to git her
kr a wife if I could. 'N' I did. I miss her," he
continued, after a pause and sigh. " Miss her more
'n' more ez the years go by, fer she wuz the best
woman ever wuz fer me."

That this tribute to Hazel's mother was not
relishable to Martha was evident to Stacy. That
it, also, pleased Hazel -vas evinced by a tender
glance from her to her f i.ther, and then the subject
was dropped.

"Good livin' is 'bout all we git out o' Hfe,"
asserted Uncle Asa, a moment 'ater; "that is,
'cordin' to my notion. Wimmin, as is nat'ral, think
more o' fine clothes. They'd 'most starve, some 011
'em, fer a new dress, 'n' when I go to meetin' 'n'

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

■■

see a string on 'em come struttin' in with new,
shiny bunnits on, I alius think o' a flock o' peacocks
on parade. 'N' the way they lock sideways ez they
go up the aisle, makes me feel they are thinkin',
' Look at me, now. Ain't my new bunnit too sweet
fer anything ! ' "

But table conversation is too pointless to quote
extendedly, and this one was ro exception. Once
started. Uncle Asa monopolized it, Stacy adroitly
urging him on purposely to discomfit Martha and
her absurd flatteries. And his droll and optimistic
utterances were as new wine to Stacy, who began
to admire him thoroughly.

Hazel, however, who had undoubtedly supervised
this most excellent meal, and was now content to
see their guest well served, said but little. She
was the real hostess, however; gracious, yet digni-
fied, and the little she said, or its tone and her
casual glances, convinced Stacy that what Landlord
Sam had said was true, and that she almost hated
her stepmother.

Also, that he had so far failed to advance one
iota in her confidence.

ws^->i-M-'M^jm

CHAPTER V

WHILE strawberry-shortcake was the os-
tensible object of Stacy's begged-for
invitation, his real one was further
opportunity of conversation with the cool, keen-
witted, fascinating Hazel. It was five-thirty when
he arrived at the Webster home, and past nine be-
fore Uncle Asa (who had led the way to the trel-
lised porch, followed later by Hazel) yawned, said
" I guess it's 'bout time to turn in; be on hand in
good time, to-morrow, Mr. Whipple," and bade him
good-night.

And then Stacy, seated on the upper porch step,
his charmer in a low chair, as far from him as
possible, was — much to his satisfaction — alone
with her. To add romance, if any were needed,
the moon was just peeping over the wooded hills,
fireflies twinkled above the meadow below them
and in the maples, and the only sound heard in
this secluded dell was the near-by murmuring
brook.

"I little thought the other day, while fighting
my way through that awful swamp," began Stacy,
55

«^">''»«

i r

56 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" that I should come upon you at its outlet, or find
so deligluful a man as your father. Miss Webster.
Ifs been only about three days since I accosted
him, and he already seems like a father to me, and
one of the salt of the earth."

" I am glad you like him," returned Hazel cour-
teously. " He is all the world to me. He and my
band of pupils," she added after a pause, " for they
occupy most of my thought during school terms."

" And so you are not lonesome here, in this quiet
hamlet ? " queried Stacy curiously. " I should think
you might be ? "

"No, never; my school and helping mother, for
we ktep no girl, takes all my time, and when I want
company I've two girl friends glad to see me.
Then I lo-.'e books, for they are even more enter-
taining friends."

" And your music," interrupted Stacy. " I see
you have a piano and banjo, as well as auto-harp —
when do they come in ? "

" Why, odd hours," she smiled, " or when I feel
sentimental. Then I strum away on one or an-
other of them, according to my mood."

"And theirs, also, I assume, for each has a dif-
ferent one, I've a theory? "

^^ "Yes, that is so," she answered interestedly
and they are wide apart. A piano is of the city.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 57

and without soul or feeling, an auto-harp suggests
the romantic ballads of the Irish nation or Scotch
love songs, while a banjo bears me to the Sunny
South and its plantation scenes and barn dances,
or black Romeos canoeing with their dusky Juliets."
"I see you have either traveled much or read
widely," he interposed, " or you could not so locate
the moods of your musical instruments: Which
IS it, if I may ask?"

" Why, reading," she answered candidly. " The
only large city I was ever in was yours, with father
for a four days' visit, and I was at school in Barre,
which, I presume, you would call provincial."

"Well, yes and no. Miss Webster," he returned
as candidly. " Provincialism is not defined by the
size of a town, but rather by the average culture
of Its inhabitants. I was never in Barre but once
and then on business. I should Judge, as I now re-
call its people and public buildings, churches and
library, that it could not be classed as provincial."

Then, and with the intention of drawing her
out, he led the conversation into the book world,
with results that astonished him. He was fairly
well read himself for a busy man, both in current
fiction and the classics; had traveled much and
attained to the intellectual polish which contact with
all classes and grades of humanity gives; was a

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

keen observer of human nature; and yet here, in
this byway hamlet, and now seated near him, was
a rustic maid (so believed by him) who had outread
him two to one, and with a keen discernment and
scope of analysis that astounded him. She had not
traveled at all, yet the life in frontier towns of
the West, their people, habits, manners, and cus-
toms, with which he was familiar, were as much
so to her. Through reading she had seen miners'
cabins, gambling saloons, dance halls, their orgies,
shootings, lynchings, and all that made up frontier
life. She had thus seen cowboy roundups, their
" chuck wagon," branding operations, and wild rides
through towns, shooting at everybody and every-
thing. She was as famii;.->r as he with the grand
canyons of the West, its wondrous Garden of the
Gods, imposing mountains, vast plains and alkali
deserts — even more so, in a way. Purposely, too,
perhaps, and to confound this city man, who she
knew had traveled in this region, she, with fem-
inine wit, not only asked him questions that he
found hard to answer, but pol'Lcly contradicted
him now and then.

Conversation has been aptly described as a game
of circles, in which each participant tries to sur-
round and out 'o the other. In this case, Stacy, a
trifle conceited, perhaps, not only found himself

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 59

outdone gracefully, but often put on the defensive.
" I confess you surprise me with your wide range
of reading. Miss Webster," he admitted at last
And your retentive memory. Once you read a
book, Its facts are at your tongue's end and in
orderly array. I've met some so-called bookish
ladies, but you surpass them all for a retentive
memory and absorption of data."

" I do not read so much to amuse myself as to

■mprove myself." she returned in a gratified tone

I have never traveled; I never expect to, but I

wish to know how other people live, and all about

their manners and customs."

" But when and how do you find the time" " he
queried in surprised tone. " You said your school
and home duties absorbed it all ? "

" You have never lived in the country much,
I guess, with a light laugh, "or you wouldn't
ask that. Do you k„ow what it is to have weeks
n.onths, years of evenings, with nothing to do but
read . There are ,io social diversions in Oakdale "
she continued regretfully, "no theaters, not even a
to«„ hall to tempt an Vurlo Tom's Cabin band of
barnstormers, no dances, not even the oW vulgar
k.ssing parties so all we can do i, u, cat, read and
sleep.

"And so you consider the ot,l tashioned kissing

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

III

parties vulgar?" responded Stacy, smiling. "I
thought them great larks in my country-town boy-
hood."

"I do," she returned spiritedly; "especially
among grown people, as used to be the case here.
They may be permissible among school children,
though a silly diversion, but for a gathering of
adults — married and single — to disport them-
selves in that way is — disgusting to me. There
are some things that should always wear a halo."

" I think you are right, Miss Webster," he ad-
mitted slowly, after a pause, "quite right. But
I was only thinking of them among children, and
now, as it's nearly time for me to bid you good-
night, please won't you bring out your auto-harp
and play the tune I thought was ghost music the
day I pounced out of the woods and scared you
so? It's been haunting me ever since. Please
favor me ? "

" I do not play before strangers," she answered
quite coolly. " I am not expert enough."

"I hope some day you won't class me as a
stranger," pointedly, " but I can't accept yout ex-
cuse. Please favor me just once? "

" You won't demand an encore, I am positive,"
she responded, laughing lightly, and without fur-
ther evasion rose and brought forth her auto-harp.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

pla>ed that plantation tnelody with exquisite grace

equally adapted to that instrument

And never before in Stacy's life were time, place
?el;r " '" ''''"' ^"^ •- -" -ooci and

J''''T^^°'!T ""' '"' ''^'- ^°"^'"^'"^ »-•

lI>?»,-H . r "' °' ■'"""""•" =•"" 'hen she
he promptly rose to go.

not only for your many favors but the delightful
ev.nmg I ve passed. May I ask the favor of an-
other while lam here?"

You are to be w.th us to-morrow I understand ''
Tl«n. and much to his surpri.se. she held out her

stet- 1/"' ■'" '! ''" ''"^ ^'°°P'"^ '° kiss it. in.
td H .7 '"''"'' '''^'" '"^^"■"^ °f <he!r fingers
n fanta , patches througl, the maples adown the
ane he f „owed the fireflies in them, the low me.!

ib^tr;^^;;;'^^"""-''"-^-

siaer light, the mountains further

6a THE CASTLE BUILDERS

away and faintly out lined, each and all seem a new
and wondrous fairyland.

" In love?" you ask.

No, not yet; merely touched by that mystic,
magic wand that ever has created and ever will
create this world anew.

Another vision inspired by this moonlit landscape
mainly, yet partially also by the piquant Hazel, soon
came to Stacy when he reached the top of a low hill
hal f way back to Oakdale. From this vantage point
the village beyond, white and spectral in the moon-
light, rose before him. To the left, the vale, at the
apex of which stood that hamlet, opened southward.
Through this the four-mile spiral of Elbow Creek,
now full to the brim, glistened in the night's silver
light, with rim of ocean bordering it and reflecting
Luna's smile. And now, halting here in contem-
plative mood once more, Stacy saw the city his
mission here was possibly to bring into existence;
saw its fine buildings, its tall church spires, its busy
streets, its crowding population, with the masts of
commerce pointing skyward where ocean met the
broad valley. Then back to Maple Dell his mind
now turned, and to the pride and poverty located
there. He thought of Uncle Asa, well on in years
and robbed of all his earnings, of his household,
barely existing in the worn-out, moss-coated house

'i/'y.^^k^^iiL'.m^

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 63

and of Hazel, doublless contributing . , of her
meager earnings to the family need*, wea ,,ig only
the simplest raiment, and a reclu-r, while capable of
bemg a social leader. And as ,acu feature of this
prospective city, each possibility of change and bet-
tcnnent to Uncle Asa and Ha.d — now gning to
waste through the gorge c, Rocky Glen -came to
Stacy like an inspiration, n ne.v amWiior. ?■<,] .in-
born desire to become il,c ma.'.ti ■ vu] and bring
this forth thrilled him. Wit), i. .), ,, a ,d p,,haps
mspired by the sequestered lo.naicf of flazri's
syringa-embowered and trellised porch, and auto-
harp, with moonlight and firefly settinfj, came an-
other and sweeter ambition with her a.s its queen.
Only for the moment, however, did he feel sure
for recalling his one love experience and its hun^lia-
t.on, his ever-present distrust of all womankind, his
love of freedom and latent skepticism, as he now
did, that hope or outcome seemed but a nassm?
mood.

"It's moonlight, music, and soulful eyes com-
bined, that's all," he said to himself, now striding
onward towards the hotel, "and to-morrow it will
all vanish like a cloud shadow. But I'd like to pull
Uncle Asa out of his hole, and dress lla.cl as she
deserves, for aii that.

And that impulse and ambition has built more

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

I' i

homes and consummated more marriages than all
others combined.

Hazel, however, felt quite otherwise just now, for
unknown to her father she was perfectly conscious
that he had been robbed by Cuitis North and would
never receive a penny from his investment. But
tell him so, or even hint it? Never, not if she were
forced to walk barefoot across coals of fire!

" I can't understand why that man is so anxious
to make up with father, or flatter me,- she said to
herself after Stacy had vanished down the lane.
" He is nice-appearmg, polite as ' by your leave,' but
I am afraid of him. He talks too sweetly. There
is something back of his excuse that he is here for
a week's outing. City men don't e - to Oakdale
alone just for that! I shall watch him! Anyhow,
he can't wheedle more money out of father, for he
hasn't any more ! "

CHAPTER VI

ANOTHER breakfast' upon the same soiled
tablecloth at Landlord Gates's hostelry and
another rare June day had come when
Stacy walked out of " The Corners " following the
now familiar road toward Uncle Asa's. A few
farmers were mowing upon the upland meadows
east of Oakdale, the whir and clatter of mowing
machines mingled with the bobolinks' singing as
they circled about and above the roadway; to the
southward th*- valley opened its broadening vista
of green salt marsh, and a dozen left-over stacks of
salt hay rose in the distance just back from the
bordering ocean. Uncle Asa's boathouse peeped
above the green expanse a few hundred rods out
from and opposite the lane leading up to his home,
and here Stacy found the path, a single plank walk
on stilts leading out to it. Here, also, he now
found the three girls and Uncle Asa awaiting him.
A pleasant greeting from the latter and Hazel,
and an introduct, .n to two plump country girls,
Mollie Bascom and Bertha Phinney. who eyed him
curiously, came next. Stacy assisted »hem into
65

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Uncle Asa's big dory, the mast and lug sail of
which were now furled and projecting from the
bow. Uncle Asa grasjjed the oars, and the start
down the four-mile course of the winding creek
was made.

" It's perty easy goin' out with the current," ob-
served Uncle Asa as the well-loaded craft swept
onward with the outgoing tide, " but it's a long way
back agin it. We alius start on top o' the tide,"
he added, glancing over his shoulder to swing
around a bend, " 'n' come back with it."

" I might save you watching your course by steer-
ing with the spare oar," asserted Stacy, noticing
the need of it; " that is if one of you two girls on
the back seat will change places with me," he added,
addressing them.

Hazel, who was one of them, arose speedily, the
exchange was made, and Stacy, piqued a trifle by her
evident wish to let the other girl sit beside him,
began steering.

But the day, the anticipation, the exhilaration of
the inblowing sea breeze, together with Uncle Asa's
droll badinage and the bantering of Hazel's two
friends, soon drove away Stacy's pique and began to
ir.erge him into the jollity of the outing, and a share
in the chaffing. Hazel also th.iwed out a tride, now
and then he received a smile from lier, and later at

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

the request of her father, she reached under a piece
of old sail, covering a Iiamper, and sundry " fixin's "
in the bow of the dory, and much to his surprise
drew forth a banjo.

She played and sang, too, ofif hand, without urg-
ing. "Nancy Lee," " iMy Roving Sailor Boy,"
"Old Zip Coon," and similar ditties, the other
girls joined in. Uncle Asa's face wore a contented
smile, and so the outgoing trip was made. And a
jolly, fuU-of-good-spirits one, it was also.

At the mouth of the creek. Stacy, his mind re-
curring to his vision of a populous city arising
where The Corners now stood, noticed and noted
a small harbor broadening out from it and shut in
from the ocean by a ridge of sand. A narrow inlet
gave egress at one end of this, into which the sea
waves entered white-capped, and close to it stood a
somewhat dilapidated spile wharf.

" We'll tie up here." said Uncle Asa. pulling up
to it, " -n' unload. Then I'll go out 'n' pull my
pots, 'n' when the tide lowers 'nufT we'll dig some
clains. Hazcl'll show you whar we set table 'n'
make a fire," he added, glancing at Stacy as he
stepped out on the wharf, and soon the landing and
unloading was accomplislied. Stacy of course
made himself useful as Hazel directed, the hamper,
baskets, and a big iron pot were carried by him to

68 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

a tiny grove at one end of the sand ridge, and then
he showed his tact and good sense.

" You girls are not to do anything except to set
the table by and by," he said, assuming leadership
now. "Just go down the beach, gather shells or
d>g in the sand like children, if you wish, while I
pick up some firewood. I am here to do the work
so let me, please." And nothing loth, off the three
went. Later, and as he expected, he noticed them
a quarter-mile away down the beach, minus shoes
and stockings and skipping back and forth as the
incoming waves washed up and met them on the
sloping sands. And now, well versed in such out-
ings, he first unpacked the hampers, spread the
tablecloth on the table, set it with the dishes piled
the food upon it and then began gathering drift-
wood for fuel. Then, and after lighting a cigar,
he strolled over to where the sea waves rolled into
the inlet.

Here, also, and noticing Uncle Asa far to sea-
ward pulling his pots, Stacy looked around, im-
pressed by the utter .solitude, yet sea-coast charm of
his surroundings. Far up and down the in and
ou. curving beach, the white-crested waves were
eurhn,, and breaking, a flock of gulls kept circling
ahove or lighting upon an outjutting sand ba,-
sedge-covered sand dunes arose back of the beach

'i!
ii:

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 69

as far as he could see, and beyond them were low
luUs covered with bushes, while inside of the long
sand ridge upon which he stood the twenty-acre bay
was barely rippled by the breeze. Not a houso or
human being was now visible except the group of
girls far away down on shore, and Uncle Asa a
mile to seaward in his dory. Beyond him, how-
ever, were many white-winged coasters, just now
suggestive to Stacy of what the future of this
protected bay might hold.

For a long hour, and seated now in the shade of
a sedge-topped sand dune, he mused upon his mis-
sion here. Hazel's charm, Uncle Asa's plight, and the
grandeur of a lonely wave-washed shore stretching
miles away. He grew a little lonely, too, in his soli-
tude, and when he saw the girls returning, hastened
to meet them. He felt grateful, too, for their
smiles, even the quiet little one from Hazel, and the
You have made yourself very u.seful," which she
vouchsafed when noticing what he had done Then
Uncle Asa, with his lug sail set, rounded into the
cove. Stacy hurried to meet him, saw that his pots
had yielded a fine catch of lobsters, and now, the
tide being out, the two, with basket and clam fork

feLt°"' ''""'"^ "'' '"^'" """ °^ "" f°«'^'^°"""S
"How deep is the water in this back bay?"

! i

III

70 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

queried Stacy when with shoes anH stockings off he
was picking up the clams out-turned by Uncle Asa's
fork.

" Wal, it's 'bout three fathom in the channel, low
t.de, answered Uncle Asa, " 'n' mebbe one to
two over most on't."

" A fair-sized schooner could run in then," re-
joined Stacy nonchalantly.

" Wal, yes, at high water." returned Uncle Asa
unconscious of his companion's thought. " Thar is
one fetches coal fer Squire Phinney every fall, a
two-hundred-tonner owned in Barre. I've some-
times thought," he added slowly, "that if the crick
wuz dug out some, she could be towed up to whar
my boathouse is, 'n' save haulin' coal over four
mile o' sand. Nobody thinks on't, though, but me
In fact, nobody comes down here much but me 'n'
I pick up a good many dollars ketchin' 'n' sel'lin'
lobsters, year through. I'd ruther do that than
farm it. I like the smell o' the sea, too, 'n' it's
bracin'."

" Oakdale's asleep," thought Stacv, " but it will
wake up a year from now." Then the clams were
washed. Stacy put on his foot garb, an.l the two
men returned to where the giris were.

Uncle Asa took charge now, put sea water in
.the big iron pot he had brought, filled it with clan „

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 71

started the fire, then went to his boat and returned
with five lobsters spht and ready for broiling.
Meanwhile, Hazel and her two mates had reset the
Uble, adding a few wild flowers they had brought,
and in due time the party gathered around it and
partook of a meal, the zest of which, aided by the
crisp sea breeze, can never be equaled by any cafe
or hotel the wide world over. The crowning fea-
ture, also, was an ample supply of field strawberries,
picked by Hazel that morning, with a jar of cream
that came packed in ice, to add richness.

And just now, as he compared this meal with the
corned-beef-and-cabbage one of tlie day previous,
and Hazel with the gum-chewing maid who served
It, Stacy felt tliat for once the gods had been good
to him.

After this, and since the girls insisted upon it.
Stacy and Uncle Asa withdrew to a shady spot. leav-
mg them to attend to matters for which they were
better trained than men, and here Uncle Asa, satis-
fied with what had come about so far, gave utter-
ance to a few homely truths and confidences that
may well be quoted.

" Good vittles," he said in response to praise
from Stacy of this unique meal, " is 'bout all the
real comfort we git out o' livin', arter all. We
build fine liouses. put on show-off clothes 'n' strut

72 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

'round some, but nothin", to my mind, is more con-
solin' than suthin' that tastes jist right. We Kve
quiet-like," he added as if that n«*vl assert-
ing, " Martha keeps the house clean, tww ^n' then
chases m« with a mop or broom, Hawl goes to
meetin' to si ,, twice a week, n fptch«s 'nuflf prayer
home to keep us goin', 'n' so we hve. Then thar's
the twx. boys, Martha's ye know; wrti, them boys,
I callate, never inherited much o' the grace o' good-
ness, or ketched it either. They keep me guessin'
most o' the time to figger out what scrape they'll
git into next. I can't coax 'em or scare 'em to
work, they play hookey from school 'most every
day — I'm glad they don't go to Hazel's — 'n' my
Idee is they'll fetch up in jail. Curis, too." he
added meditatively, " how what's bred in the bone'll
come out in the flesh. Now their father — wal, he
was counted no good, 'n' hung himself in a fit o'
tremers, 'n' — wal, I s'pose my takin' up Martha
'n' them boys was one o' the crosses the parson
sez we've all got to shoulder to git into heaven. I
thmk I'll am a harp, too, if them boys keeps on
the way they're goin'.

" Thar's one thing alius comforts me," he con-
tinued after a pause; "we ain't to blame fer our
relations, but I'm dern thankful we kin pick our
friends. Now, I hain't many relations livin', but

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 73

those I had alius borrowed money o' me 'n' never
paid it back, 'n' one, a nevy, cost me over a thou-
sand dollars gittin' him out o' scrapes, 'n' when I
wouldn't any more, called me a lusscd miser."
" Ungrateful, eh? " interjected Stacy.
" Wal, no, couldn't call it that," returned Uncle
Asa; "jist the habit o' relations. I've heard it
said, if ye \.ant money go to strangers, if ye want
advice go to friends, 'n' if ye want nothin', go to
your relations, but mine alius turned this 'round
'n' kep' me poor." Then he paused, sighed, and
looked away out over the broad ocean, as if a less
selfish world might lie beyond it.

"I hain't much longer to stay," he continued
after this. " I've done the best I could for every-
body, 'n' the one thing worryin' me is Hazel 'n'
her futer. Martha's got 'nuflF to live on in her
own right, but all I got fer Hazel is the house that
ain't wuth shinglin', some land, 'most worn out,
B'ar Hole Swamp, 'n' that Rawhide stock. 'N'
when I git thinkin' on't 'n' the cuss that bamboozled
me, my hide gits raw, too, dern him !

" Hazel is peculiar, too," he added after another
pause; "so fussy she won't look at Oakdile bojs,
'count o' their manners 'n' ways. One on 'em tried
to spark her, fact all on 'em hev one time or 'nother,
but this un, wal, he come courtin' with cowhide

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

boots 'n* dirty shirt on, 'n' Haiel shut the door i«i
his face. I gin her two years o' schoolin' in Barre,
let her stay thar one winter to l<etch onto city ways,
'n' it spiled her fer Oakdale fellers, I'm sartin."

And just now, recalling her as she impressed him
the evening previous, Stacy did not wonder at it.

He also felt a little piqued at the way she had
treated him so far this day. He had not expected
any alone-with-her chats v^ith these two mates of
hers in the party, still she might have been more
companionable, and at least invited him to gather
shells or pick flowers with herself and her com-
panions, in place of the long hour he was left to
solitary meditation, he thought. And just now,
with dishes washed and packed, instead of joining
Uncle Asa and himself, they were again romping
down the beach, tlirowing skip-stones or gathering
shells. Beyond all question, he wasn't in the game,
or so considered.

Hut the rising tide and lowering sun soon said
that it was time to return, at least Uncle Asa now
asserted it, and led the way to reloading the boat,
and the return was begun. Then, and for the first
time during this day's outing. Miss Hazel disclosed
a shade of coquetry, or disposition to be kind to
Stacy.

I'm going to sit in the stern with you, Mr.

^wmsm-M.n^'^'m

TIIK CASTLE BUILDERS 75

Whipple, • she said gaily, a, .,0, first to ent.r the
boat, did so. " I like to look al.ead and watch the
birds, and sometimes we see a huiskrat plunirc off
the bank."

■' Will you play the bnnjo if I permit you? " he
returned, in the same bantering tone. "Jf «>, I
shall esteem it an honnr."

" If you will sing, I'll play," -I„. replied, smiling
M him, for the fact was that this or.tilt little lady
fflt that their guest d. served some lonsideralion.

And now, across the bay and into the narrowing
creek, with their boat in the shadow of lie tall
marsh grass, -ht tuned up Iht b.inio, and even
Uncle Asa fwt compdk,! to j in in the chorus of
"Oan.ly Jim of Caroline," Kingdom ComiiiR,"
" Old Xic, lemiis," '• Sitwanec River," and a do/> ,1
other plantation ballads suited to a banjo. Now
and then she interjected a sentimental one, and
when the mountain shadow had crossed the nar-
rowing valley .and they nearing home, she sang
" ^*""' Gray " and " Massa's in the Cold. Cold
Ground " with a caress of feeling, and marvelous
soprano voicf, that thrilled every fiber o, Stacv's
soul.

" I don't like them," she said, in response to liis
words of praise, after she stopped. " Thos. songs
arc too melancholy. They seem appropriate, how-

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THE CASTLE BUILDERS

i '

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cer, just at sunset, after a pleasant day's outing,"
she added a moment later, "and a contrast from
the foolish ones I've been inflicting upon you."

Stacy, of course, as was his duty, helped Uncle
Asa carry things up to the house, gave due thanks to
both him and Hazel for the day's enjoyment, bade
them adieu courteously, and then, carrying, in two
packages, the two pairs of lobsters which Uncle
Asa had insisted that Hazel's chums should take
home, he departed villageward with them.

And now he found they were much more gra-
cious and chatty with him during the walk than
Hazel had been.

Later, and after Uncle Asa had finished his milk-
ing. Hazel met him at the barn-yard gate.

"Has Mr. Whipple said anything to you yet
about investing in any mine stock, father?" she
asked.

" Why, no," he answered positively ; " what put
that into your head, girlie ? "

" You won't if he does, will you, father ; promise
me that?"

" Sartin, sure I won't," watching her curiously.
" I hain't no more money to put into anything."
Then, and after another long stare at her, he added,
" Put that notion right out o' your head, Hazel 'n'

THE CASTLE BUILDERS t^

keep it out. That man ain't no mine sharper, he
ain't, 'n' I like him."

" So you did the other one, you said, father."
" That's true," he answered, sighing; " 'n' I wuz
wrong. Mebbe I'rh wrong now, mebbe I am."

And that evening Stacy, who found Sam and his
Old Guard almost stupid companions, had hard
work not to do a foolish thing -or what seemed
so to him — and hie himself away to Maple Dell.

CHAPTER VII

A RAINY day to a busy man in a city is but
an incident scarce noticed, and evaded by
an umbrella, while in transit from home to
office or store, or returning; but to such a one, shut
in a small country village hotel, with posters on its
office walls, or one or two old weekly papers for
sole reading matter, it is "pizen," as Uncle Asa
would say.

Such a day faced Stacy the morn succeeding his
delightful shore outing. Sam was surly, the Old
Guard missing, and after two hours of watching
the highway, while not a soul passed, he grew
desperate, donned his waterproof coat, and with
rod and basket started for Rocky Glen brook. A
fair catch of trout and a thorough soaking were
his reward, and returning, a sudden and heavier
downpour as he neared the byway schoolhouse of
Hazel's occupancy, drove him into its porcli.
Curiously now, and for what reason he never knew,
he tried its door and, much to his surprise, found
it unlocked. To enter was no harm, he felt, and
so he did. There was nothing in it of value, school
78

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 79

term having closed the week pi-evious, a few ink-
stands and useless pens scattered along the wall-
shelf — the old-time way around desks in such
temples, the teacher's desk was locked, and back of
it, above the small platform, was the customary
blackooard. All these simple fittings were but re-
minders of his own boyhood, for in such a building
Stacy had first received tuition, and then as his
eyes traversed the room, a curious chalk-made pic-
ture on the blackboard caught them. It was meant
to be that of a young lady, holding a rod in one
hand, a book in the other, and beneath it the legend,
" My teacher, I love her."

And then, despite his rain-soaked condition and
hunger — it was past noon now — Stacy laughed
heartily at the schoolboy handiwork and inscription,
both so grotesque and absurd.

" Well, I don't blame you, whoever you are," he
exclaimed after the laugh; "I guess I shall love
her myself if I stay here a week."

And then, seating himself while he waited for
a lull in the downpour, both the comic and pathetic
side of this incipient love disclosure came to him.

" Love is both the biggest fool illusion and the
nearest-to-i.eaven one that stirs human emotions,"
he commented aloud. " I know just Iiow that boy
felt. I had the same dose myself once, and how

nti

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many miles I tramped to find and bring that blue-
eyed schoolma'am bunches of arbutus and sweet
flag buds to win a thank-you. I'm glad nobody
but myself ever knew. And what double-distilled,
dyed-in-the-wool fools that insanity will make of
a man," he added, liow thinking of La Rosa
Can ■ : " for once the mania is on, they will not
only sink into mumbling idiocy, but find forgiveness
for a woman who not only betrays every trust, but
scorns even decency! We prate about being
strong, we men," he continued sneeringly, " but we
are as limp rags wound round the finger of a pretty
woman when in love with her, and willing, even
thankful to be used to wipe her shoes with! Bah,
what fools we are, and can't help it either ! "

Then glancing around the little bare, cheerless
room, with its warped floor, open Franklin stove,
smoke-browned rafters, and knife-hacked benches,
the peculiar situation and pathos of Hazel's life
came to him, and how, even on the worst of wintry
days, she faced icy blasts and snowdrifts to earn
a few dollars to help pay home bills! And he had
lavished over a theasand in eight months on La
Rosa Carmen, with the net result of despising him-
self in return!

" I've got the experience, anyhow," he muttered
grimly, now leaving the poor little hovel of leara-

-^ .

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 8i

ing, " but guess I'd better cut stick from Oakdale
before I get any more."

When he reacheu the hotel — this being Satur-
day—a letter awaited him from Bert Colby, his
partner, that now forced the same conclusion.

" If you are satisfied with your examinations of
Oakdale streams and their availability foi our pur-
pose," it said, " you had better go to Barre at once
and close contracts. Make dates for on-account
payments as early as possible, also insert a for-
feiture clause in contract, all properly witnessed.
Shall expect you back by Wednesday. There is
another deal on which may necessitate your going
to Nevada this summer."

"All right, my boy," exclaimed Stacy, after
perusing this missive, and then Uncle Asa's plight
and the Rawhide swindle recurred to him at once.
" I'll look you up, Mr. Curtis North, you and
your swindling act, when I go to Nevada," he
added, " and see if there is any show to jail you."

With dry clothing on, Stacy now betook himself
to the piazza to watch the sun, just smiling out
from above the western mountains, and wait for
supper and a feast upon the trout he had brought
in. And just then he spied Uncle Asa coming up
the road with a basket in his hand.
" I thought I'd fetch ye a little suthin' to tickle

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

ycr tongue witli," lie said cheerily, now mounting
the piazza where Stacy was alone. " I went down
the crick to-day to bait my pots over, 'n' dug ye
a mess o' them clams ye liked so well. Thar's four
lobs, too," he added, handing the weed-topped
basket to Stacy, " 'n' ye ki.-7 hev 'em brilcd or biled,
ez ye like." Then, and after due and cordial thanks
from Stacy, he seated himself n>^ar him.

" Be ye goin' to stop here much c' ne.xt week? "
he queried after a pause, and glancing curiously at
Stacy. " If so, mebbe I kin take ye fishin' 'nother
day, or we kin go to the beach agin, jist you 'n' I
'n' Hazel, or take i:er chums 'long, ez ye prefer.
I s'pose ye hev other business here 'cept jest in-
jyin' yerself, Mr. VVhipplr ' "

It was an adroit <]uery .r Uncle Asa, but Stacy,
keener than he to read others' minds, saw that
something lay beyond this.

" I have and I haven't, Uncle Asa," he answered
candidly. "That is, I came here for a double
reason ; the principal one to enjoy a few days' rest,
the other to look this town over for a purpose I
can't even hint to you. It isn't to sell mine stock or
anything to anyone, however," he added, smiling.
"Some day I will tell you first of all what the
purpose is, bti. until then, may I ask you to promise

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

positively not to repeat what I have said to anyone,
not even lo your daughter, HazeL' "

" I will, sartin," returned Uncle Asa, looking re-
lieved; " 'n' here's my hand on't," and he extended
his to Stacy.

" I hope ye'll 'scuse me for sorter pryin' into yer
business," he continued ; " only knowin' the kind o'
layout Sam sets up, I thought it must be some busi-
ness that 'ud keep ye here long."

"Not more than a month, anyhow," laughed
Stacy, " unless you'd take me for a boarder, with
fishing or on shore trips every day. However, I
can't go again. I am to leave here Monday."

" I'm sorry, Mr. Whipple, derned sorry," Uncle
Asa ejaculated earnestly. " I've kinder took to ye
ez it war, 'n' I'd like to see more o' ye. Can't ye
come agin 'fore summer's gone? "
^^ "I may," returned btacy, his heart warming,
" and you may be sure I shall expect you to take me
on all sorts of outings if i do." He came near add-
ing Hazel's name to this cordial wisli, but did not.
" There is another mattei I can assure you on,"
lie continued in lower tone and glance at the hotel
door. " I shall go to Nevada this summer and will
look up your mine investment and advise you ".
there is any show for you to get your money back.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Also, and if possible, I'll set the minions of the !a.
on this Curtis North if he can be found."

" I iiank ye, Mr. Whipple, I thank ye from way
down," responded Uncle .\sa earnestly, and ri.<ing.
" I must be goin' back now, it's 'most chore time.
I'm sorry it's Sunday to-morrow," he added, oflfer-
ing his hand again. "I'd take ye out some'rs if
'twa'n't. You'll — you'll drop down to see us in
the evenin', won't ye ? "

" I cei linly shall," returned Stacy as earnestly,
" dnd thank you for your kind assurances of good
will."

" Nice old man," he soliloquized after Uncle Asa
was well away from the hotel steps ; " good as gold,
and honest 33 the day is long. But how the devil
came he to link that termagant widow to his for-
tunes or poverty, ,ith Hazel to keep house for
him ? "

That evening with its late rising moon to once
more outline tiie winding spiral of Elbow Creek
with glints of silver sheen was a long one to Stacy.
Sam and i..e Old Guard were in evidence as usual on
Saturday evenings ; they told stories galore — some
new to Stacy, some that were on crutches when he
was a boy ; they discussed Oakdale gossip and Uncle
Asa's afJairs — the latter with a freedom that now
disgusted Stacy, until finally to escape this boredom

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 85

he retreated to his room and solace of a lone cigar.
Oakdale, wh e ;. charming rural hamlet, held only
two people that now interested him.

Sunday morning dawned bright ar.J fair. Stacy
dressed in his best, waited fc first bell call and the
arr/ing church attendants, then as soon as he saw
Hazel come up the road, hastened to follow her into
the larger of the two churches, and seated himself
in a rear pew. The usual fair-sized congregation
was there, or came in later. The regular order of
prayer first, singing, scripture-reading, prayer again,
then another hymn, came duly, but the only face
that brought furtive glances from him was Hazel's
piquant one, as it arose from the choir curtains over
or back of the pulpit. The second hymn was sung
by her alone and somehow Stacy, whose eyes never
once left her faio during it, now wondered how so
marvelously sweet a voice could issue from such
girlish lips and throat. And best of all, she sang as
though interceding for the lives of her hearers, yet
as much at ease as a bobolink perched on a tree-
top. He wondered, too if she saw him, hoped she
wouldn't consider his comin- as impertinent curi-
osity, or his watching her rude conduct ; and as this
was the f St time in two years he had been to
church, he dropped a two-dollar bill — folded as
small as possible — on the contribution plate. He

THE CASTLK BUILDERS

I !

was starfd at covertly from all sides and the moment
tlie benediction was uttered, liastet.ed out.

He also watched for Hazel from his vantage point
of the hotel piazza, saw her emerge from the sanc-
tuary with one of her two girl chums after most had
left it, then go away with her. Later, the two
returned together, and after close of service Stacy
received a smile and bow as she passed the hotel,
homeward b'nmd.

And now recalling Uncle Asa's peculiar inquiry,
its way and wording, his evident relief on being
assured that he had nothing to sell Oakdale people.
Stacy saw a light.

" Hazel thinks I am another Curtis North," he
said to himself, and then he laughed aloud for he had
been seriously hurt by her almost painful coldness.
Then and there, also he formed another resolu-
tion, two resolutions in ac First, that he would
leave no stone unturned to find this mine swindler
and make him disgorge, if possible; the other, that
in no way or manner would he attempt to disabuse
Miss Hazel until her own observation had enlight-
ened her as to his kindly good-will toward her father.
Pursuant of that intention, and from pique, also, he
resolved that he would be as cool and indifferent
towards her as she had been to him. at the call he
was soon to make. .And .so it happened wlien hr

Tllli CA.nLt: BUILDERS

once more walked Idsurely „p ,0 the svringn-flankecl
front porch and fomi.l L'ncit Asa and ! fa«l occupy-
ing It. Ills grcetiiij; lo lier was formally iiolitc, bm
very cordial to lier father.

" I enjoyed tliose .ms immensely, Uncle Asa "
lie said at once. " Albion is so far inl.ind that «'e
"t-ver get them there; it, the West tlity are an un-
known del.- • ,y, and the banquet you served on the
beach was one I shall recall many times -espe-
cially those lobsters you broiled so nic-ly."
" Wal, I'm glad on't," asserted Uncle Asa bluntly
n' be.n" sorry ez I r!lu< am fer folks ez has to live
m the city wnz why I ft ,ed ye 'nother mess.

" I wouldn't live in the city if I wuz paid fer't "
he continued, " street cars rattlin' all night, folks
bun.pin' 'gainst ye whichever way turn 'n'

skeered all the time least ye git yer p cet picked.
1 he country's good 'nuff fer me."

" Yes, and for me, too," admitted Stacy, " for it
makes me feel myself a boy again and takes me back
to boyhood days once more. I went lishing in the
ram yesterday, Miss Webster," he continued in for-
mal tone, turning to her, " and on my way back took
refuge m your schoolhouse to escape a shower and
had a hearty l.iugh over what I saw insi.le it."

" You did ? " she queried curiously. " What was
it? "

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

!* I

" Why, one of your boy pupils, I presume, is so
enamored of you that he has drawn your picture in
chalk on the blackboard and written under it, ' My
teacher, I love her.' The picture, however, does not
do you justice."

"I wish you had rubbed it out," she responded
flushing. " I don't like to be so caricatured."

" I don't believe the boy meant it in that way,"
returned Stacy, smiling. " He was merely sufler-
ing the qualms of incipient love and took that way
of telling you. I once went through the same agony
myself. And by the way," he added to change the
subject, " permit me to thank you for the rare treat
of your solo singing in church this morning. I did
not know which church you sang in, I dared not ask
Sam for fear of making comment here, so watched
for and followed you. You have an exquisite voice
of rare sweetness."

" Thank you," she answered simply. " How did
you like the sermon .' "

" Why I — I don't believe it impressed me as it
should, maybe," he answered hesitatingly; "too
much or too profuse explanation of old Biblical doc-
trine and why we must be sure to save our souls
anyhow. Too doctrinal, I should say. What I
want from the pulpit is up-to-date sermons, how to
live rightly to-day, and what our duties to one an-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

other are in this day and generation. Christianity
and the church are doing a great and noble work
and making humanity better, more charitable, more
conscientious, and the world more fit to live in day
by day. But the church needs broader and more
forceful preachers. Men who can thrill a congrega-
tion, inspire them to rise above personal selfishness
week days, teach them that doing good to-day is to
improve the to-morrow of our race, shame them out
of their indifference, and that to live the Golden
Rule to-day is far better than to worry whether
their souls will be saved to-morrow. Then, to my
mind, the long-drawn-out argument of personal sal-
vation is solely an appeal to our selfish natures and
of no benefit to us."

"'N' I agree with ye," interjected Uncle Asa
promptly. " Grace o' God is skeerce in this world,
'n' doin' ez ye'd be done by skeercer still, 'n' 'tain't
helpin' matters to spend time tellin' folks a front
seat 'n' a harp is all they need to live fer. I've alius
figgered a good deed is the best sort o' prayer, 'n'
counts most. It may not 'feet the scoffers, they'll
say ye hev an ax ter grind anyway, but it'll 'feet
now 'n' then one, mebbe. Leastwise, I alius feel
more contented arter I've done somebody a good
turn, 'n' the birds' singin' alius sounds a leetle
sweeter."

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

li i

11'

" You oiiglit to occupy our pulpit one Sunday,
Mr. Whipple," interposed Hazel in tones that Stacy
imagined held a note of sarcasm. " You certainly
would enlist more attention than our minister."

" Why, I gave him attention enough," rejoined
Stacy curtly, "and if he failed to interest me it
wasn't my fault, was it? "

" No," she answered as spiritedly, " but I as-
sume that you listened solely to criticise, not to be
improved. Anyone can criticise and sneer, it's the
easiest thing to do, but to be charitable and read the
good intention beyond words is quite another
matter."

And then Stacy felt as if he had disturbed a hor-
net's nest.

" I admit your assertion," he responded suavely.
" It is far easier to criticise than originate, or even
be charitable. But you asked my opinion of the ser-
mon ; I assumed you wished an honest one. Or

is it as a noted cynic once asserted — ' folly to tell
ladies the truth, they prefer lies so long as they be
sweet!'. ' ? "

There was a glint in Hazel's eyes at this which
he fail.-d to see, but her answer came sweet as the
murmuring brook. " Oh, yes, we do prefer lies and
always have preferred them from force of habit,"
she answered suavely, " since about all we ever hear

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 91

from the lords of creation is some fairy tale. I, for
one, expect nothing else, and quite enjoy the stories
that men make up — so long as I don't believe
them."

" You two'll git pullin' hair if ye keep on," inter-
jected Uncle Asa, " 'n' 'tain't natVal. I never knew
but one man who alius argered with a woman, 'n'
he had to cook his own vittles finally, 'n' the only
one who went with him when plantin' time come
was the hearse driver, 'n' he wa'n't a mourner."

Then Stacy laughed heartily and so the sharp-
shooting ended.

" I will admit that you have the better of the
argument, Miss Webster," asserted Stacy after this,
" but as music will soothe the savage breast, which
means mine just now, won't you favor me with your
auto-harp once more? As I leave in the morning
and can't say when I'll visit Oakdale again, if ever,
I'd like to carry away a pleasant memory."

"And won't you without that?" she inquired
pleasantly. " I certainly didn't mean to hurt your
feelings."

" I am sure you didn't," he returned earnestly,
"and I enjoy a verbal tilt — ahvavs. But this
porch, the surroundings and yourself here, seem so
like a sequestered nook in a better world, I'd like to
complete the illusion that way."

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" I thought you were to stay a week or more " —
inquiringly — "it's only been four days?"

" Five, to be exact, since I first heard your spirit
music whispering through the pines."

And just now, in spite of his intention of repay-
ing Hazel in kind for her cool demeanor, Stacy
wished Uncle Asa — good soul — would go to bed.
But the evening was waning, and recognizing this,
perhaps, as well as her callous mood, Hazel now
brought out her auto-harp once more, and for a
witching half-hour its tinkling melody vibrated
through the moonlit maples, then Stacy arose.

" I thank you. Miss Webster, and you. Uncle Asa,
for what has made my Oakdale visit a red-letter one
in my calendar," he said earnestly, and offering
his hand, first to Uncle Asa, then to Hazel, " and
now good-bye."

And recalling that evening almost hourly for
many days afterwards, its piquant charm, Hazel's
perfect poise and repartee, her exquisite voice in
church, the brook-like tinkle of her auto-harp, and
the witchery of Maple Dell, each and all many times,
their charm kept growing upon him until they
seemed a glimpse into another and better world.

" I'm going to all it Hazel Dell," he would say
to himself whe . this mood was on, " for she is of
it and akin to it in purity and sweetness."

CHAPTER VIII

STACY had expected that two days would suf-
fice for his visit to Barre and the closing of
contracts, but the preliminary haggling over
terms, payments, etc., with the committee of five of
the city's councilmen, consumed time, during which
several things happened, and one disclosure came of
peculiar interest which must be recorded.

The fi<-El of these happenings was the introduction
to him by the chairman of the committee in the hotel
office the third evening of his stay in Barre of a
dapper little person by the name of Leon Otero,
who informed him that he had heaid of the city's
plans for obtaining power from OaUdale, that he
was agent for the supplying of emigrant labor on
such work as Stacy had in hand, and was here for
that purpose. He gave Stacy his card beariug a
New York address, and politely requested that he
might supply whatever laborers Stacy might need.

" We shall want a hundred or more of them,"
Stacy assured him in response, "and I will keep
your card and correspond with you as soon as we
are ready to go ahead."

THE CASILE BUILDERS

" You haf your site for ze dem selected and ze
land secured, liaf you not? " inquired Otero in for-
eign accent. " There are two, ze committee tell me,
can be used for ze dam ? "

" Why, yes, three in fact," returned Stacy, now
on guard.

" But you, sir, must have decided which one is
ze best," persisted Otero. " If you haf not and
you wish me, I would advise. Ef you hire of me
ze men I must go before and haf house put up for
zem to live in."

" I shall make no decision without further con-
sultation with my partner," responded Stacy firmly,
"and after that you may hear from me," and so
closed the interview.

Later, and after writing full details of proceed-
ings so far to Colby, he began to give this Otero and
his proposals some thought.

" Curious, and I can't quite line up that fellow
and his intentions," he muttered to liimself, loung-
ing ;n one corner of the hotel ol"" -e in an easy chair,
and iigliting a fresh cigar. " He seems anxious to
find out what's none of his business, and where have
I seen th,-i t face ? "

And then backward through the pages of his
memory .Stacy started to find this Otero's peculiar
face, sinister and ?hifty black eyes and little black-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 95

pointed mustache 1 Somewliere he was positive,
but where? Then he drew forth his card inscribed
"Leon Otero, Emigrant Agent, 441 West 23rd
Street, New York," and read it again as if therein
lay a clue. In vain, for this fellow's face, either
Spanish or Mexican, he was positive, still eluded
him. After a half-hour of this vexatious pursuit
of a face, he telephoned Davis, chairman of the
committee he was negotiating with, for informa-
tion regarding this fellow. The answer was vague
and also suspicious, inasmuch as it appeared that
this Otero had presented himself to Barre's commit-
tee a fev days previous to Stacy's arrival, and pos-
sessed the information that these negotiations were
in progress and that Oakdale had been selected as
site for the intended power supply. The source of
this information was not forthcoming, however.

" It must be in the air," Davis asserted to Stacy
after this explanation. " He came to me with the
assurance that he had been informed of our inten-
tion and was anxious to secure the contract for
laborers, which seemed plausible. I told him you
were the one to apply to. and were expected here in
a few days, and he has been waiting for you There
is another man with him, stranger here also, an older
man — red face, white side-whiskers. They are
stopping at another hotel than vours, I believe "

9<5 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

It wasn't much information, but some, and cer-
tainly mysterious for the reason that this Otero had
obtained facts which Stacy had hitherto supposed
were known only to his firm and Barre's committee.
"There is somethiiig queer about this," Stacy
muttered, hanging up the receiver, and then this
Otero's persistent anxiety to obtain the location of
the intended reservoir struck him as pecuhar an
uncalled for.

" He'll find out nothing! " Stacy muttered again,
and then began to wonder who this other stranger
was, and what possible connection he had with
Otero's mission here.

The next morning, and while strolimg along the
limited water front of Barre, whom should he meet
but this Otero again, and with him a rather flashily-
attired gentleman with luxuriant white side-whisk-
ers, whose flushed face and rotund stomach, across
which lay a massive gold watch chain, betokened
prosperity, at least. "This ees my friend, Mr.
Curtis," Otero said, thus introducing him after
formally greeting Stacy. " He ees here on pleasure
himself, it ees."

"Just looking this country over for a few days,"
explained Curtis airily, " and to keep an eye on my
friend, Otero."
" I shall hope you will haf your beesness con-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 97

eluded, Mr. Whipp-e," added Otero, " and I can ob-
tain your order for ze men you will need before you
leaf. Shall you go again to Oakdale befor; to
Albion ? "

" I don't expect to," responded Stacy curtly. " I
shall, however, write you in New York as soon as
we decide when we shall begin operations." And
then the two passed on.

" It's he, by Jove, it's he! " exclaimed Stacy five
mmutes later, after these two had passed beyond ear-
shot, " and the identical man vho swindled Uncle
Asa I "

Then back to a little smoke-dimmed gambling den
m a Nevada mining camp he flew in thought, and to
the two pals he had seen snapping cards there!

But the name, Curtis, in place of North the
sharper who had invaded Oakdale, and the reason
thereof combined to form a new mystery. Piqued
by this even more than by the other one, he now
turned upward from the water front and hastened
to the only other reputable hotel in Barre to look
on its register. That yielded a clue, for turning
Its pages a week back, there in told flowing hand
was the name " Pentecost Curtis " from New York
above that of Otero !
Then Stacy gave vent to a low whistle.

Some snakes mit de grass,' as Old Rip said,"

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

(I ■•!

he thought, turning away, and hurried back to his
own hotel to await ten o'clock, when he was to meet
with the committee again. Here while he was
cogitating upon these two peculiar and pertinent dis-
closures: Otero, the ostensibly innocent contract
labor agent and former pal of the sharper who
swindled Uncle Asa, now seemingly anxious to find
out where his firm we,e to build their dam; that
same swindler, Curtis North, registered as Pente-
cost Curtis, now with him — well, to Stacy, a keen-
witted business man well used to the pursuit of the
elusivf dollar, the two facts and their coincident
application seemed positive proof of some sinister
game afoot. Curtis, or North, as Stacy was posi-
tive that he was, was undoubtedly well supplied with
money. Otero was a pal of his, both were as un-
scrupulous as two unhanged swindlers could be. and
both here for some game far deeper and beyond
the innocent one of Otero's securing a contract for
fifty or one hundred Italians.

But what was it?

For a long half-hour Stacy thought and studied
upon this occult mind-reading problem without suc-
cess, and then a light came.

" I see it, by Jove, I see it," he exclaimed, jump-
ing up. " Curtis, or North, and maybe neither is
his right name, is tlie baclver with money. Otero is

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 99

the tool a„d their game is to find where we are to
locate our dam, the, .oal a march on us by buying
up the land and malcing us settle ' " ' ^ "^

Ami .hen like a flash of white light came another
nsp ra ton and conclusion so comical that Stacy
laughed outright I ^

J7 ri''°"' ^'"'' ^'- P'"'"°*t Curtis," he
sa,d shaking with suppressed laughter, "and I'll
make you buy Bear Ho-e Swamp of Uncle Asa and
pay well for it, tool "

This was so funny, and such a fine turning of
the_tables, that he shook again with the enjo>int

He quieted himself for hi., meeting with the com-
m.t ee, for ,' .y were shrewd, sharp business men.
bent on dr.v.ng the best bargain possible. Stacy
was not asleep, and after a two-hour session, he ob-
amed a. he hoped for in contracts duly witnessed,
and all that remamed was to secure Rockv Glen
B 00k valley of Sam Gates, then go ahead and build
h.s dam, harness the giant now laughing there in
.nnocen. glee and start the wheels that would tu n
.bM,amlet of Oakdale into a prosperous and busy

But first to land this despicable Curtis North
and do It thoroughly.

It was

easy, too, in

way, the door wide open.

!fl

loo THE CASTLE BUILDERS

the trap all set, and all that remained was to bait it.
And now forewarned, forearmed, and " loaded for
bear," as Uncle Asa would say, Stacy sought out
Otero.

"I have closed my contracts, le assured him
with well-assumed satisfaction, i.ow finding him
alone in his hotel office, " and have a proposition to
make to you. The site I have de. 'ded upon in Oak-
dale is at present a two-mile long by half-mile wide
swamp, which contains some available timber, hem-
lock and hackmatack. That can be cut this com-
ing summer, but as the swamp Iz a quagmire, it's
impossible to haul it out till winter. We shall, in
the meantime, obtain a portible saw-mill, set " p
below where the dam is to be, and as soon as sr
can be hauled out, begin sawing this for our vn
use. You can submit to me a propo-ttion for fi. y
wood choppers to go to work by August first, and
as many more men suitable for digging and quarry-
ing operations, a month lai ■, where the dam is to
be built. Thi- location, I m^/ say, is now covered
by a fine growth of pine that must be cut first.
Make your specification complete as to nationality
of men to be furnished — any will do except Chi-
nese, a foreman for each class of men must be
included — terms and time of payment as well —
also a bond for the good beliavior of all men em-

'm%iiw^^im'^:smi^sm

THE CASTLK BL'ILDKKS ,01

ployed. Whoever obtains this contract must be-
come responsible for all acts of thieving by men
employed - we won't. This contract you can sub-
mit to us within a mon , and if acceptable, \ in
turn will give you a bond for our fulfillment of
same." And having thus baited liis long-range
trap, Stacy handed Otero his business card and
shook hands with him cordially.

And that afternoon Stacy, well satisfied with
what he had done, took the last train for Oakdale
station, ten miles from that hamlet.

CHAPTER IX

I* i,

IT was almost sunset when the old one-horse
carryall, with Stacy as sole passenger, reached
the hilltop overlooking Oakdale, and now its
peculiar isolation, a village of perhaps fifty houses
grouped around two churches with scattering ones
adown the borders of t'.ie two enclosing ranges of
mountains, appeared more sequestered than ever.
From this viewpoint he now first noticed an oval
hill back of the village with its serried rows of white
and brown tombstones, the gorge to right of this
out of which came Rocky Glen brook, the V-shapcd
vista of the valley beyond, with its winding creek
and bordering ocean, while to left rose the bare-
topped hill back of Uncle Asa's home, one of the
two barricades beyond which lay Bear Hole Swamp.
And just then, in spite of the charm of the peace-
ful vale and visions of the city that was to arise
there, even in spite of the piquant little school-
ma'am, whose home-roof Stacy now saw peeping
above its surrounding maples, it occurred to him
that the seldom-speaking old stage driver beside him

102

THE CASTLE BUILDERS ,03

could be made to assist in the game of retribution

ne was about to play.

"You know that big swamp back of Uncle Asa's

don t you ? " he said, now addressing him " Well

there .s a possibility you may sometime see that
occupied by a big reservoir and below it a power
house to produce electric light for Barre. If this
comes about, and it may some day, there will be
shops and factories built below that, alongside the
valley, a trolley line to your railroad station, your
vdlage will have electric light, and then you won't
have to drive this stage any more."

as Uncle Lev: who had been the connecting link
between Oakdale village and station for twenty

years. " Why, who's goin' to do it, 'n' when ? "
1 won t say who or when," returned Stacy mys-

tenously, "only that it may come about -i„ time

— that IS all.

"Wal, that openin' back o' Uncle Asa's strikes
me ez a handy spot fer a dam," responded Uncle
Levi, now recovering himself. "Wal, wal 'n' so
thars one goin- up thar, eh? You s'priseme!
VVhos goin' to dew it?"

"I didn't say anybody was -not yet," asserted
^tacy ,n a you-mustn't-tell tone. " I only hint this

104

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

lm%:

to you in confidence for I've — well, the land hasn't
been bought yet and — you understand — keep
quiet about it."

And he did, so quiet that not twenty-four hours
elapsed before every man, woman, and child in Oak-
dale knew all about it, as Stacy intended that they
should.

That even-'ii^ also, or immediately after supper,
he held another pertinent interview with Samuel
Gates, Esq., landlord of the Oakdale House, that
must be recorded.

" Do you know, Sam," he said to him in the in-
different way, typical of his business methods, when
the chance came, "that I've — well, I've half a
mind to make you an offer for that Rocky Glen
Gorge you own; just to have a trout brook I could
call my own? I wouldn't pay much for it; it's only
a whim of mine, you know."

" Wal, ye kin fish it, I s'pose, any time ye want
to," drawled Sam, glancing curiously at him.
" The brook's thar, 'n' you're welcome."

" Yes, I know 'tis," responded Stacy in the same
tone, "only if I owned it I could post it, and so
keep away other fishermen. I am not particular.
Would you be willing to lease it to me for that pur-
pose for, say, ten years, and for how much?"

TVK I1A..K A M..M, TO MAKK VOU AX OFFKK F„K T„ Vr

Rocky Clks Goboe.'— p„,,f /oj.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

105

returned Sam slowly, "how

"Why, I dunno,"
much 'ud ye give? "

" Oh, maybe ten dollars a year," admitted Stacy
indiflferently, "just to make the matter binding.
As you say, I know I am welcome to fish it — or
Bear Hole Swamp brook any time I come here,"
and he laughed.

" That's so, sure," responded Sam, also joining
in the laugh, " but — wal, make me an offer on the
gorge brook land, 'n' I'll think it over."

" No, you set a price and I'll think it over. I
am not anxious about buying it either. I just
stopped off here for another day's fishing and shall
leave to-morrow evening. I must get back to the
city by the next day night." Then, and as if the
matter were of small concern, he picked up a paper
and began reading.

Not so with Sam, however. He, while shrewdly
desiring to drive good bargains, considered this
brook gorge, now stripped of its timber, as abso-
lutely worthless, and anything received from it as
so much gained.

" I dunno but I'd set a price on that 'ere brook
gorge," he admitted finally after a long ten minutes
of silence. " Thar's 'bout two hundred acres on't
up to the top o' the pitch, 'n' a little scrub timber

i^^'ti'i

106 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

that's wuth suthin. How'd six hundred strike
ye? "

" Wal," drawled Stacy in exact imitation of Sam,
"that's pretty stiflf, all things considered. Does
that include all the land down to the road? "

"iJas, 'n' some back on top o' the ridges, the hull
piece is 'most a mile long."

For fully five minutes Stacy sat in contemplative
silence, not to seem anxious, then spoke.

" I'll take it, Sam," he said finally, " and as I
shall start fishing early in the morning, let us go
over to your village Mogul, Squire Phinney, now,
and have a deed filled out. If I sleep on it I shall
most likely change my mind."

And thus did Stacy Whipple obtain possession of
a piece of land that eventually became worth a thou-
sand dollars for each one paid for it !

" One thing I must insist on," Stacy said after
the deed was duly signed and witnessed, and he had
given Sam six crisp one-hundred dollar bills for it
— he had brought four times that sum with him —
" and that is, you must keep still about this transac-
tion. There is a big deal on foot to buy Bear Hole
Swamp for a reservoir and power house later on;
I shall probably have charge of the work and may
have to board with you for a year or two. You
will hear about it in the near future, but keep still

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 107

or the deal may all fall through. This must abso-
lutely be kept in strict tjiifidc ice."

And having thus secured what he needed, and at
the same time baited a trap for Curtis North, alias
Pentecost Curtis, Stacy retired to a well-earned
sleep.

He was up early next morning, and after a pre-
viously-ordered breakfast, betook himself to the
home of Uncle Asa.

And now after a week's absence and many vivid
recollections of her sweet face and dainty form,
first seen under the big pine, her modest self-
possession and perfect poise, her keen wit and
ability to cope with him on any subject, and best of
all her tender devotion to her father — the nearer
he came to her moss-coated old rookery of a home,
the more he felt like a bashful schoolboy making
first call on a sweetheart. He also realized how
rare and charming a maid, fit to grace a palace, was
hid in this byway nook—" Hazel Dell," as he kept
thinking of it.

Its utter seclusion at the end of a grass-grown
lane out of sight of the main highway seemed sug-
gestive of her perfect purity; as the flower-filled
dooryard and lilac and syringa-hidden house did of
her sweetness as he drew near it; and despite his
years of contact with the ^^■orld, his heart thumped

5 I

i"h

io8 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

unduly when he lifted the iron knocker on the closed
front door.

Much to his disgust, Martha answered it, greeted
hitr. with clumsy obsequiousness and invited him in.

" Uncle Asa's gone down the crick," she asserted
in answer to his inquiry, " 'n' Hazel's over to Mollie
Bascom's for the day. She's got a cousin visitin'
from Barre. 'n' they've a sorter lawn party goin'
on this arternoon.

" I s'pose they'd be glad to hev you jine 'em,"
she added, " 'n' ez ye've met the Bascom gal, it's all
right."

" I should be more than glad to do so," returned
Stacy, smiling at her idea of propriety, " but my
errand here is to see Uncle Asa. Where can, or
how can I find him ? I had planned to go away this
afternoon."

" Why, ye kin take his small boat V go down the
crick, if ye can't wait," she ansv.-ered, eyeing him
curiously. " No, I guess he took that," she added,
" 'n' you'll Lev to take the big dory." And Stacy,'
departing much chagrined at this ill luck, wondered
if this Bascom girl's cousin from Barre were of the
masculine persuasion, felt sure that it must be, and
was vexed accordingly. He was nothing to Hazel
so far, as he fully realized, yet she was enough to
him already so that if this comer from .-re were

'Tia^^iM^ms^'mm

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

109

a fellow, he wished that he

would keep away from

Oakdale. Oakdale swains were evidently not to be
feared, but a young man from Barre, where Hazel
had spent a winter in social gaiety, might prove a
dangerous rival.

Uncle Asa's big dory was soon found to be out of
water beside his small wharf. Stacy had a muddy
experience in launching it under the hot sun, and
by the time he started down stream on the last of
the tide, his temper and raiment were both badly
frayed.

And meantime the imagined face of the fellow
from Barre kept intruding!

He reached the open water of the cove after two
hours of misery, pulled up to the little old wharf,
and soon, to his joy, saw Uncle Asa doubled over
and digging clams on the bare flats outside.

" I'm glad to see ye, mighty glad," that worthy
exclaimed, looking up as Stacy drew near and
smiling benignly, "but what fetched ye back so
soon, good news ? "

" Yes, decidedly so for you if all goes as I plan,"
answered Stacy positively. "Come up to where
the table is and I'll tell you the story."

Once seated there in shade more than consoling
to Stacy, with the cooling sea breeze blowing in, he
began his story, fully resolved to keep nothing back

': il

no THE CASTLE BUILDERS

from Uncle Asa, but to trust him fully, as he now
did. He started at the beginning, too; telling of
his mission to Oakdale. the reason for it, and what
he had decided upon, next of his return to Barrc
witli the outcome of the contract with that city's
committee, and, most pertinent of all. of his meet-
ing with Pentecost Curtis and the latter's tool,
Otero, and of his almost certainty of the game they
intended to play, with explanation of the tr-p set
for them. And the face of Uncle Asa was a study
while this recital was in progress, for his mouth
was wide open, now and then he gasped for breath
and when Stacy paused, he jumped up, yelled
"Hooray, Good Lord, hooray!" in tones that
eclioed across the wide cove, then grabbed both of
Stacy's hands in his, and nearly pulled Stacy's arms
out of their sockets.

" I'd kiss ye if ye wuz a woman. I swar I wjuld ! "
he next exclaitned, now dancing up and down.
" Rut I can't believe all you're tellin' I Good Lord,
it's too good to be true! Ef it turns out so. it's
Kingdom-Come fer me, sure's a gunl 'N' Hazel,
say Hazel — " And overcome by the ecstasy of his
joy Uncle Asa choked, sat down and covered his
face with muddy hands while he shook with sup-
pressed emotion.

And it was many moons ere Stacy forgot even

THE CASTLF. BUILDERS 1 1 1

one iota of that miiisling of humor and patlios in
Uncle Asa's words.

" We must \>e alow and cautious in playing this
game," Stacy now assured him in business tone.
" We are up against two shaipcrs. keen as the devil,
and as occult. This Otero, the tool, will cotne here

in the near future — Curtis North never will

Otero will make a lot of sly inquiries, then call
on you, make a few more, and mnybe go away to
consult with his backer and prime mover in this
game. He will appear again and either make you
a flat offer at a nominal figure for Bear Hole
Swamp or try to secure an option on it. And here
is where you come in ! You must now assert tliat
you already have an offer for the property by par-
ties whose names, location, or intentions you have
no knowledge of. Be as cocky and independent as
a well-fed bulldog, and say positively you won't
set any price on the swamp. Otero will then begin
to bid up, and how high he will go all depends on
your nerve, self-possession, and strength of assur-
ance that you won't accept any offer. When he
gets up to, say, six or seven thousand dollars, then
begin to weaken in your refusals, and finally admit
that for cash down — not even a certified check —
you will accept an even ten thousand dollars for
your property. He will then offer you a split price.

!
1

i
j

•

r^s*""

113 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

perhaps eight, perhaps nine thousand. You must
next come the scornful act and s.iy, ' Before I dis-
cuss this matter further, show me the coin.' He
may go away again, he may not, most likely he will
have the cash with him, but — get hold of the
money before you give him even a scrap of paper,
for you arc dealing with a keen-witted thief. And
once you get the money, h^de it where no other
human being can find it; then drive over to Barre
— don't go by rail — and deposit your money in
the best bank."

" Why, this feller must be a reg'lar highway-
man!" gasped Uncle Asa after this elaborate plan
of action. " You figger he'd hold me up 'tween
here 'n' Barre I "

" He would, as sure's you're born. ■'- disgui'c of
course," responded Stacy, smiling at Uncle Asa's
concern, and then he related what he had seen this
Otero doing in the mining-camp gambling den.
" Both of those fellows are despicable thieves," he
added. " and would not hesitate at murder if need
be.

" I am going to Nevada in a week or two " he
continued, " and shall look this Rawhide swindle
up, and perhaps obtain some evidence to give these
sharpers a good scare anyhow. Enough to keep

mapped

THE r\STLli BUILDERS n.,

them away from this vicinity at least. They are
too cunning to be caught red-handed and landed in
jail, I'm sure."

And now after this plan of action
out, Uncle Asa began to ponder.

" I wish you wuz goin' ter be here 'n' do this
business," he ejaculated with a sigh after a long
pause. "It's askin' a good deal, Mr. Whipple,
you've already done more fer me 'n' any man ever
did, but — I don't feel I'm smart 'nuff to dicker
with sich a dern scamp. 'N' it's Hazel's money,
too, if I get it back out o' that wuthless swamp, 'n'

— Good Lord, the chance seems like the hull o' my
life!"

"I wish I could. Uncle Asa," Stacy returned
earnestly, " and I assure you that I'd gladly do it if
possible. I'd — I'd go a long way to do you a
good turn, and repeat the trip for Hazel. She is

— is the sweetest little lady I ever saw, bless her
big eyes."

Then Uncle Asa looked up at Stacy curiously.
" Say, Mr. Whipple," he queried, " kin I tell Hazel
now what you've done, 'n' are doin' ? "

" No, positively no," vehemently, " until the af-
fair is all over and this swindler landed or not!
Then you may."

tiH:^.

"4 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And just now he wished more than for anything
else ,n his life before, that if all worked out as
^e hoped, he might be an unobserved witness of
Hazels face, when her father informed her of the
outcome.

|;!|f'

CHAPTER X

MANY of us do kindly acts, a few do
unselfish ones, but not one in a million
ever does a heroic one without hope of
reward.

In Stacy's case, what he had so far done was
solely from good will and wish to help a kindly old
man who had, metaphorically speaking, opened his
arms to him on sight. Just an ebullition of gen-
erosity in the heart of a man grown cynical and
hard by contact with a heartless and selfish world.
His own father — much the same kind of man, as
Stacy recalled him — also played a part in this
generous impulse, and woven into it, also, was
Hazel's face. Stacy desired no reward from her
except the indirect one of repaying her coolness —
almost scorn — by an act of unselfish interest in her
father's welfare. He also had a lurking suspicion
of the real cause of her chilly demeanor; that she
distrusted him or imagined his real errand here was
a sinister one, and his interest in her father similar
to that of the swindler, North, and finally to in-
veigle him into some financial scheme. There must
lis

$' i

1 16 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

be some reason for her apparent distrust; this
seemed tlie most plausible one.

And now after this heart-to-heart exchange with
Uncle Asa, in the tiny grove overlooking that lone
sea beach, it occurred to Stacy that time was flying,
and if he caught the late afternoon train it was time
to be starting.

" I've got to catch the six-thirty train west," he
now said to Uncle Asa, consulting his watch, " and
must be going. I've told you all I can regarding
this plan of mine, and all I can add is. Keep quiet,
don't confide a word of it — not even to Hazel, and
when this Otero shows up — as I am sure he will
— drive a good bargain with him."

" It's a case «' ' Do unto the other feller ez he'd
do unto you, only do it fust,' I cal'Iate," returned
Uncle Asa, chuckling. " Only I wisht you was the
one to do it. You've fergot more'n I ever knew
'bout handlin' sich swindlers.

" We must hev suthin to eat 'fore we start back "
he continued, glancing at the sun. " I've got a
coffee pot 'n' briler in my boat, 'n' a little lunch
1 11 jist make some cofifee 'n' brile a couple o' lobs
'n' then I'll pull ye up the crick in my small boat'
I wish ye cud stop over 'nother night with us' " he
added pleadingly. "I'd be proud to hev ye 'n'
Hazel -say, Mr, Whipple, can't I jist gin 'her a

■#:'-T^:ill^fea'

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 117

hint o' what's in the wind so she kin 'preciate ye
ez she ought? That gal's clus-mouthed, 'n' got
more sense in a minnit than I've got in a month, if
she is my darter."

" No, I thank you for the invitation, Uncle Asa,"
responded Stacy earnestly, " but you must not con-
fide my real errand here to her. Positively, you
must not now." Then he — reading Uncle Asa's
wish and thoughts as easily as a child's — added
another heart-confidence that made the old man
gasp.

" Uncle Asa," he said slowly and as uttering a
prayer, " I have said to myself for many years —
I am thirty now — that I would never marry, and
yet during the ten days since I first saw your daugh-
ter u e the pine tree, and from my reading of
her m d character, if she were to give me the

slightesc encouragement now, I just couldn't help
asking her to become my wife. She won't, how-
ever. She either doesn't like me, or distrusts me,
and that is my inmost reason for refusing to let
you confide my errand here to her. It would make
her feel obligated to me, and I wouldn't accept even
a smile from her won that way. Now you have my
measure ! "

Then once more Uncle Asa extended his hand,
swallowed a lump, and turned his face away.

:^5<!*»;'= '•:*.$'

ii8

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

a.-;

"Mr. Whipple," he answered with a tremor,
"you've teched my heart ez nothin' ever teched it
since my wife died. Ef I kin bring things 'bout ez
I wish 'em, it'll all come out right in the end.
Hazel j,st can't help trustin' ye, 'n' a good deal
more wlien she knov.s what I know 'bout ye.
Leave it to me. leave it to me, 'n' take keer o' yer-
self while ye're away."

And Stacy felt as if he had already offered his
hand and heart to this rare maiden and was await-
iiig lier answer.

But he would not have told her of what he hoped
to do now, even if that withholding were to part
them forever, for that was his pride and way It
must be himself she wanted, for himself alone, and
not as compensation for any tavor shown her
father.

" We musi hurry about this dinner matter," he
now said, again consulting his watch. "It's half-
past twelve; it will take us over an hour to pull up
the creek even with the tide, the stage leaves at four-
thirty, and there you are! "

" I kin pull up in less'n 'n hour," asserted Uncle
Asa confidently. "I will, anyhow, V then I'll
hitch up 'n' take ye to t.ie depot myself. My boss
km go faster'n Uncle Levies old crowbait "

The broiled lobsters and coffee were speedily

'^sjurwK'riw^ w

THE CASTLli BUILDERS 119

made ready by Uncle Asa. He cooked three of
those delicious crustaceans lest his honored guest
would not find one enough, melted butter in a tin
cup, and served Stacy as if he were a titled person-
age. Once started. Uncle Asa swung the oars with
long, vigorous strokes while S'acy steered, the sea
breeze followed them cool, crisp, and refreshing,
scores of bobolinks rose from the marsh on either
hand, caroling their wondrously sweet song, and
somehow, just now, it seemed to find an echo in
Stacy's heart.

When the boathouse was reached Stacy suggested
that he walk on to the hotel, pay his bill, and await
Uncle Asa there, and did so.

And now arriving at the village, he was the ob-
server of a scene that effectually ended the bobo-
Hnk-song mood within him, and thrust a tiny dagger
into his heart. He knew that Hazel was spending
the day with one of her girl chums. He had no
expectation of seeing her, no intention, certainly, of
spying upon her; yet now, passing close to a big
brown shrubbery-surrounded house near the village,
there in a shaded hammock sat Miss Hazel picking
at her banjo, and in the opposite end a sprucely
dressed young man !

One instant's flash of her big brown eyes came
to Stacy with a cool little nod. He bowed, raised

rL='^

15 il
Is I.

120 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

his hat courteously, glanced just once at -he half-
dozen other young folk grouped about and strode
on feeling as if all the world were awry.

And tiiat was the last time that he saw Miss
Hazel for many months.

The Old Guard, with two additions, were lined
up m the hotel piazza chairs when Stacy reached it
Sam m their midst, and from their curious glances
and animated faces it was evident that some un-
usual happening had disturbed their minds. Sam
greeted Stacy witli unusual deference; Stacy ex-
plamed to him later in the office that Uncle Asa had
been unable to take him fishing as he had hoped,
paid his bill, and to protect himself from a quizzing
from Sam, remained in his room until he saw Uncle
Asa nearing the hotel, then descended, shook hands
with Ssm and rode away with Uncle Asa

And never before since that Old Guard made
bam s piazza their summer rendezvous or gathered
around his open Franklin stove in winter, had a
visitor come and gone who had excited them as
much as Stacy had, or whom they so longed to
question ! ^

" Thar's the devil 'n' Tom Walker to pay " as-
serted Sam the moment Stacy rode away, " 'n'
Uncle Asa's in the game, I cal'late. Fust, that feller
comes here 'n' ketches on with him, they go fishin'

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 121

go down the crick with Hazel 'n' a couple o' other
gals fer a clam-boil, he calls thar a few times, goes
off, comes back, tells Uncle Levi, Bear Hole Swamp's
goin' to be turned into a big reservoir some day,
shops put up. 'n' doin's o' all sorts. Then he comes
back like he dropped outen the clouds, tells me he
wants Rocky Glen brook fer a trout brook o' his
own, pays me six hundred cold plunks fer it like
they war waste paper, 'n' goes off mum ez a clam.
Either thar's a nigger in the woodpile, or that chap's
crazy ez a loon."

For two hours, also, or until supper time, this
epitome of Stacy's actions formed the Old Guard's
sole topic of converse, with varying opinions as to
whether he were a sane millionaire, or a lunatic
with money to burn — the latter predominating.

Arriving at Oakdale depot — an isolated spot
with woods all about and the only house in sight
that of the station agent — Stacy, to enjoy his cigar
and privacy with Uncle Asa, asked that they await
the train in their carryall near the station; and here
he once more went over the manner and method by
which Uncle Asa was to do his part in forcing
restitution of his money by sale of a worthless
swamp to Otero, pal and tool of Curtis North.

" You must be sly, ' devilish sly,' Uncle Asa,"
Stacy cautioned him, " for you will be dealing with

i4/t*:^

122 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

a fellow that I've no doubt has conimiited ever
crime in the calendar and escaped the law so tar.
The o^e point most effective will be your convincing
him it's your sense of honor that keeps you from ac-
cepting any offer — as he has no honor, he will not
easily believe you have — and convincing him of
this will be the turning point in making him believe
that he is safe in buying this property. He will
hear that I have bought the Rocky Glen gorge —
I dare not leave that uncovered — only — and I
have paved the way for it — he will hear all about
the big deal on hand to buy Bear Hole Swamp
before he calls on you, and your positive refusal to
sell until after a long parley, and big price offered,
will be the convincing proof that he is buying what
we want for a reservoir."

" It's a cut-throat game, 'n' 1 ain't used to 'em,"
declared Uncle Asa, " but I'll do the best I kin.
I dunno's it's quite right to take more'n the four
thousand this North skinned me outen, though.
It don't seem so."

"But you've actually got to sell Bear Hole
Swamp," returned Stacy positively. "It will be
worth double ten thousand dollars as soon as our
power starts its wheels, and then you deserve some
return for the distress of mind you have suffered.
Don't have any compunctions of conscience, Uncle

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 123

Asa. The money tliis swindler will put in was
practically stolen by him, some of it actually, no
doubt, so rest easy in your mind."

When tlic train was lieard coming, Uncle Asa
jumpet o.it hurriedly, hitched his horse, grasped
Stacy's suit-case and led the way to the station
platform.

•' Good-bye, 'n' God bless ye, Mr. Whipple, God
bless ye," he said, when the final moment of parting
came; " 'n' say, I'd give five years o' my life, 'n'
I hain't many left, to tell Hazel now so she — she
could be thinkin' ez I do 'bout ye. Mebbe ye'll
write me from the West, 'n' I kin hev Hazel answe-.
My writin's a good deal like crow-tracks in the
mud."

And once away, it dawned on Stacy that this last
proposal was an occult one to make Hazel realize
tliat he was the honorable man Uncle Asa believed
him to bt - also a possible hope of something be-
yond of mutual benefit.

Another conclusion also came to him as the train
sped on, which was that if his trap caught this
swindler and he found what he felt sure of finding
in Rawhide, he would set another, eitlier to laml
him in jail, or make him give up the deed of Uncle
Asa's swamp; all of which must be accepted as
further proof of Stacy's penchant for air ca?tles.

t i

,Ji^'~' 1

B?T

kyy*

"Wi

CHAPTER XI

''ELL, old man, what success?" ques-
tioned Bert Colby, Stacy's genial,
. . hustling partner, when he entered

their office thirty-six hours later and after the usual
handshake. "Did you land Barre all right?"

" Ves, got contracts all signed and witnessed and
went back to Oakdale . nd bought the best dam site
the,. 5or six hundred," returned Stacy i.rscly
" and had a heap of fun besides. Say, my boy "'
he added smiling, " Oakdale's a dream of a spot for
trout fishing, but the hotel would give you dyspepsia,
with a table maid that chews gum while serving"

" How about your Uncle Reuben, the nice old
farmer who took you fishing, and his peach of a
g.rl?" smiled Bert. "I guess she's the one who
added charm to the brooks. Did she ? " _
_^ ''No, she doesn't chew gum," interrupted Stacy
She s the finest and keenest country girl I ever
saw.

"Stung, my boy, stung, good and plenty,"
laughed Bert. " and by the way. here's the layout of

J24

Jb.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 125

the gold brick your Uncle Rube bought," and he
handed Stacy a long official envelope.

Stacy glanced at its corner caption, " Carson City
Bureau of Mining Statistics," then drew forth its
missive.

Briefly stated, it gave the information that the
Rawhide Gold Mining and Reduction Company had
been duly organized under the laws of Nevada;
capital two hundred thousand dollars, divided into
twenty thousand shares, par value ten dollars ; Presi-
dent Curtis North, Secretary and Treasurer Leon
Otero, both of Rawhide; directors, these two with
three other names given, from Deadwood, Colorado.
A footnote added was to the eflFect that owing to
failure to give annual report and non-payment of
State tax, the said charter had been adjudged as
forfeited.

For fully five minutes Stacy studied this plain
statement of facts, stroking his brown, well-kept
mustache meanwhile — an unusual ace for him —
then ejaculated, "No chance to catch him in
Nevada, anyhow."

"Catch whom?" queried his partner curiously.

" Have you added the sleuthing business to ours? "

" No," replied Stacy, " but I've set out to catch

one slick swindler to help Uncle Asa out of a hole."

iikM*m

126 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Then Colby — for they were in the seclusion of
their pnvate office — exploded in a burst of
laughter I

'■ Well, you are worse than stung," he excUimi-J.
subsiding, "you are bit, scooped, done f. r, landed
and all within ten days! You called the turni
Uncle Kube's daughter must be a winner! But
what the devil do you want to chase a bunco man
out to Nevada for? Does she make that a pro-
vision?"

" No, she hasn't even grown to believe I am
honest yet," returne.1 Stary soberly. " Tl'inks I
came to Oakdale to sell her father more mine stock,
or on some swindling game. There is a more dan-
gerous snake in the grass in this case, than the one
that charmed Mother Eve."

Then Stacy gave his partner, who was like a
brother to him, a full and explicit account of his
v.sit to Oakdale and Barre, his meeting with Curtis
-\orth and Otero, with an exposure of their sup-
posed plot, and a description of the trap he had set
for them. Hazel, of course, came in as a side light
m this drama -for she was too much in Stacy's
mmd to be omitted -and her charm, keen wit. and
hhal ..evotion were touched upon by him. " It's to
save her poor little heritage and comfort her father

^^h

THK CASTLE BUILDERS

1-27

— one of Nature's noblemen — that I've taken a
hand in this game," Stacy then explained. " She
is a rare girl, and while I'm not in love with her
yet, the only way I'll escaiie that malady is to keep
away from Oakdale. A month there and I'd be a
goner ! "

" Well then, hike to Oakdale at once, for you
might easily do a bigger fool thing," asserted Colby
in rcspcjnse — for he had a charming wife, home,
and two children. " In fact, as there are scores
of La Rosa Carmens abroad in the land, if this
country lass is half what you describe, I'll blow a
cool five hundred on a wedding present for you two,
and call it money wi M spent."

"Thanks, old man," returned Stacy soberly,
"you may have the chance if I am obliged to super-
intend our work in Oakdale. And now 'low alinut
my trip West you wrote me about ? \\ hat's to be
done ? "

"Why, first, you must see two parties in New
York, buying agents who want some of our Number
One Compressed Air Drillers, about a hundred I
expect, then you will have to go to Nevada and on
to Seattle to see mine owners and take measure-
ments. It's going to delay our Oakdale w ,rk some,
but can't help it. This Drill order has too much pie

! 1

128 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

m it to put oflf, and I can't leave here, anyhow."
And so Stacy once more found himself in business
harness after the charm of Oakdale.

That evening also, in the cozy seclusion of his
own house and sitting-room, and just for fun, he
gave his aunt a " big, big jolly," as he would put it.
"Aunt Carrie," he said soberly, when the chance
came, "you have for many years advised that the
proper thing for me to do was to get married and
give you a companion to help watch and take care
of your pets, also me. Well, I found the perfect
one ten days ago, a country lass who wears a calico
sunbonnet, can milk the cows, I imagine, and makes
the most delightful shortcake that ever melted in a
man's mouth. She also plays the banjo and sings
coon songs like an artist. How would it strike you
if I brought her here in September? "

"Mercy!" gasped his aunt as visions of a
farmer's freckled daughter who said " haow " and
" Yew don't tell ! " flashed into her mind. " Do you
mean it, Stacy, do you? Why 1-1 never sup-
posed such a girl would suit you? "
Then Stacy laughed heartily.
" I didn't say she suited me exactly," he returned
still chuckling, "but you can dress her up so the
tater bugs won't chase her any more, I think she
can get her feet into number seven shoes — eights

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 129

anyhow — you can check her propensity to chew
gum during divine service and exclaim 'Land's
sake ! ' and ' Laws-a-massy ! ' too often in company,
and so get along with her. I am doing this to please
you, Aunt Carrie."

Then his aunt eyed him curiously, for she was not
as credulous as may be imagined. "I know you
are joking," she said, smiling benignly (like Uncle
Asa, as Stacy thought), " but I hope you will marry,
and I know a country giri will make you a good
wife. They are always good and sensible. You
know what I think of city girls — vain and
frivolous, if not fast."

Then, and to ease the mind of this most excellent
woman — country born — who had been practically
a mother to him for eighteen years, Stacy gave her
a truthful description of Hazel and her charms.
And it is needless to add that his aunt exclaimed
over this possible outcome as all country mothers
would.

Another development, more pertinent to this nar-
rative than its love interest came to Stacy during
the week that now elapsed before he left Albion
again, that must be related. There was in his office
a young man about his age, a boyhood schoolmate
in the way-back town Stacy came from, and a
sensible, keen-witted fellow, whom he had taken in

i ■

130 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

hand years before, by the name of Isaac Williams
He had been observant, anxious to learn, was a good
penman, and was now head bookkeeper for the firm •
also devoted to Stacy personally as was natural.

" I overheard something last night in a cafe, Mr
Whipple," he said to him early one morning (the
fourth smce his return from Oakdale) "that I
think you ought to know." As Colby had not ar-
rived and this might be confidential, Stacy at once
invited "Ike," as he was called, into the private
office, and told him to go ahead.

"I was at the show last night — Park Square
Theater," continued Ike, " with a girl I take out
occasionally, and afterwards took her to the Jap
Garden's cafe for lunch. It's a nice, cozy one, with
music, and little stalls with paper partitions and
bamboo curtains — you know the place — and it's
all right. Well, as we were going in I noticed a
couple in the stall next to the one we took, and the
fellow, a slick little Spanish-looking sort of a chap
was just giving his order to the waiter, so the cur-
tain was up, and the lady with him was that Miss
Carmen I know you used to take to theaters occa-
sionally. Well, we hadn't been seated five minutes
— I'd just given my order— when I overheard your
name mentioned by this Miss Carmen, and I began
tohstea She was talking low and mysterious I

Ifii ti

'Ml

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

131

couldn't catch all that was said, but the point of
it was this chap had just come from Barre where he
had gone to work some scheme or upset your plans
and was sure of doing it. She admitted, too, that
she was next to one of the committee there also,
or he had been here to see her and told her what
was afoot. I judged by one admission of hers that
she was pretty intimate with this Barre chap or
had some hold on him. I also heard her say to
this fellow, ' Now remember, I am to have a mate
to the diamond bracelet from you when the trick is
done — no go-back, or I'll peach,' and he said, ' My
dear, it ees promised, I haf kept my vord and I
vill.' I heard some love talk mixed in later, and
kissing with it. He is to take her to the Park
Square to-night also. The game they had or were
putting up is one you best know, I thought."

"Most certainly," returned Stacy, "and I thank
you for your fidelity. Now I want you to go with
me to the Park Square to-night. We will keep
apart and watch out. I think I know who the fellow
is, but it's best that we are not seen together." Then
the bookkeeper returned to his duties, and Stacy
, to a mental kicking of himself for sundry and divers
reasons.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,' " he
muttered, pulling at his mustache again, " and she

132 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

has got it in for mel And to think I once thought
her so glorious, and was on the point of proposing!
I ought to have her picture framed as Sam did the
certificate, to prove how many kinds of damn fool
I was I And she nothing but a despicable adventur-
ess, and worse ! " Then he arose and began to pace
the office while he digested this new complication
and how to use it. He had at first only meant to
rescue Uncle Asa's money with good interest —
now he was so angry that he determined to jail
both these swindlers, cost what it might.

" I wonder if I couldn't get you sent up for a
year or two, Miss La Rosa Carmen, just for luck,"
he now soliloquized, "if I put a detective on your
trail?" Then better sense came to him. "No,
you idiot," he asserted, thinking of himself, " better
by far go hug a busy buzz saw than <o try games on
a woman like her!"

He kept both his own cogitations and the book-
keeper's disclosure from his partner, who came in
later, for obvious reasons, and that evening he and
Ike met early and stationed themselves for a sly
observance of the theater's arriving patrons from
outside its entrance. Stacy was in due time re-
warded, for just before curtain time a carriage
halted in front of the theater, Jehu opened its door
obsequiously, out stepped Otero in evening dress.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 133

top coat, crush hat, and holding a big bouquet, and
after him "La Rosa Carmen," resplendent with
many diamonds and the very latest in modish rai-
ment.

Stacy had not seen her for four years or cared
to for six; did not even know whether she had been
in the city all that time or not — she was merely an
episode in his past life that he wished to forget —
yet now as she swept by within ten feet of where
he stood in shadow, she was an undeniably hand-
some woman, not looking a year older since seen
by him, in fact bewitchingly beautiful.

" She's a Juno in form and face, a Circe at heart,
with soul of a she-devil," he said to himself now,
" yet scores of men will pursue and pay any price
for her Judas kisses — damn her ! " which profane
sneer can easily be excused, or should be.

" I should think she'd feel ashamed to be seen
with that insignificant little pup," he added, now
turning to find Ike, " but what do they care so long
as the price is paid ? Another diamond bracelet to
do me, eh ? Well, we will see I ' Whoever laughs
last, laughs longest,' Bert says."

He had seen all he wanted and obtained all he
wanted, namely, confirmation of who was with her
in the cafe, and not wishing to be seen by this
woman, when Ike was found the two hurried away.

134 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

"Come, Ike. my ooy," Stacy now said in com-
radeship tone, and grasping his arm, " let's you and
I have a drink in memory of boyhood days, then
I'll tell you something, for I'm sure I can trust you.
Just a long claret lemonade up in one corner of the
Alhambra roof garden."

And here and thus ensconced in cool seclusion
Stacy did tell him something, which was the history
of his heart affair with La Rosa Carmen and its
denouement in her obtaining inside information of
Barre's intentions, then selling it to this probable
paramour, Otero, for one diamond bracelet, with
some of the spoils probably, and the mate to that for
later pay. He also told of the trap he had set.

" Colby knows about Carmen," he admitted in
conclusion, "but he doesn't know what I've told
you, that she never was anything to me especially
for I believed her a good girl, while she — well, she
really meant to marry me, so set out to play the in-
nocent game of course. I just had to tell someone
the facts to take the taste of her out of my mouth
Colby doesn't, or I don't want him to know of the
game she has set up — he has worries enough — so
you mustn't tell him. Keep still about all I've said.
I may want to send you to Oakdale or to New York
later on to play spy on this Curtis North. I intend
to land him in jail if I can." Then, after another

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

135

of the cooling mixtures absorbed through straws,
the two shook hands, and Stacy went home.

Next day, or the one before he was to leave
Albion, a better mood came, for Hazel's face was in
it, and in his heart as well. He also wondered what
gift or token of it he could now send her — the
usual way of a man in love. This, however, he had
hard work to determine. Books and flowers were
the only things admissible according to his calendar,
the latter of course out of the question, so he be-
took himself to a bookstore. Six de luxe copies
of the best poets with as many more of current fic-
tion were here selected, then Stacy thought of her
auto-harp and banjo and hastened away to a music
dealer's, with the result that enough music for those
two instruments to last her two years, together with
tlie books, was soon on its way to Miss Hazel
Webster, Oakdale.

Stacy didn't even enclose his card — just sent the
things and let her guess from whom they came.

And now having done so much to assuage his wee
little heart hunger for this " rare and radiant maiden
named " — Hazel, the six weeks' jaunt and twice
across this continent now seemed an interminably
long time to be away.

■' -

CHAPTER XII

WITH the feeling that he must keep his
coat buttoned tightly to protect his
watch and pocketbook, and a firm hold
of his suit-case — an impression that always came
the moment he set foot in New York -Stacy
pushed and elbowed his way through tl , Grand
Central Depot, took a carriage to the Holland
House, secured a room, and proceeded at once to
Number 441 West Twenty-third Street. He found
It a brownstone front and dingy brick lodging house
m the Tenderloin borders with " Rooms to let " card
in one window.

••_ Is Mr. Leon Otero in? " he asked of the mulatto
maid who answered his ring.
I' No, sah," she returned, eyeitig him sharply.
" Can you tell me where I can find him.? " Stacy
next inquired suavely. " It's a matter of important
business."

"No, sah; Ah dunno, sah," came from her of
brick-color face. " He done been gone away mos'
free weeks now, sah."

"Is Mr. Curtis rooming here?" Stacy
136

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 137

hazarded. Then the maid flashed him another
snaky look from her black eyes.

" He don't lib here," she admitted hesitatingly,
"you kin find him at his office. Ah 'spect."

" Well, I wish to find either Mr. Otero or him,"
asserted Stacy anxiously, "on a matter of urgent
business. Where is the office of Mr. Curtis? "

" In de Mills Building on Wall Street," she hesi-
tated. " Ah doan 'member de number, sah. What
am youah name, sah ? "

" My name's Williams," returned Stacy briskly,
" and I wanted to see Mr. Otero about hiring some
men of him. I will try to see Mr. Curtis. Good
morning." And having obtained more information
than he expected, he bowed politely and turned
away.

"Office on Wall Street, eh, you whiskered
scoundrel ! " he muttered when well away from this
house. "So it's big game you are still after!
Wonder if the office of the Rawhide Mine is
there ? "

He hurried up the street, almost ran up the
nearest elevated railway stairs, caught a down-town
train, and was soon at the Mills sky-scraper,
Number 35 Wall Street.

Here and glancing over its office list, " Room 210,
Floor 22, Curtis & Company," soon rewarded him.

«38

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Then he hesitated, for he had no wish to meet this
arch-villain now, in fact that was the very thing
he did not want to do yet. It was possible to do a
little more sleuthing, howcer, so he caught an ex-
press elevator car and was shot up to Floor Twenty-
two in a jiffy. Here, with hands in pockets like a
farmer, he strolled leisurely down the corridor.
Room 210 was easily found, Stacy glanced up and
down the corridor, saw no one was observing him,
then sidled up to the door upon the ground glass
panel of which was lettered, " Curtis & Company.
Mining Stocks and Investment Securities," and
listened. No sound came from within, so he next
turned the door knob cautiously and found the door
locked.

" So the bird's away," he muttered, now strolling
on, " and all the better." He kept on, s' o, around
three divisions of this corridor until he ,v a brass-
buttoned young Irishman with appear -ice of jani-
torship, and him he accosted.

" Do you know a man namcr' Curtis — big fel-
low, red face, white side-whiskers, dealer in mine
stocks, on this floor ? " he queried.

*' Yis, sor; Koom Two-ten, jist around two cor-
ners, or," came the direct answer from Pat.

" 1 tried tliat door," returned Stacy, " but nobody
in. How long since you have seen Mr. Curtis?"

I' i

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 139

"I can't say, sor; a wake or two I'm thinkin'.
He don't be here much, sor." And having thus lo-
cated those two slick schemers, Stacy left the build-
ing. His business in the city consumed three days,
each evening of which was passed at some theater,
and somehow every moment of those many hours
of hurrying hither and yon Stacy's eyes were con-
tinually on watch for the conspicuous face of Cur-
tis. He looked carefully around or over theater
audiences for this peculiar face; also, and mean-
time, in spite of important business matters to be
discussed and keen men to be bargained with, he
kept wondering whether or not, just now, this fel-
low, Otero, was playing gallant to the Carmen siren
or had gone to Oakdale. He was glad when the
time came for leaving New York also; that city
always oppressed him with a vague sense of un-
easiness ; and when once on board a through West-
ern train of all Pullmans it seemed as if he were
escaping from an enemy's country.

And now with three days and nights of luxurious
ease ahead, two late novels in his suit-case, two
boxes of his favorite cigars, also, and time to think ;
he began a more coherent plan or outline of Iiow to
circumvent these two conspirators. I. would de-
pend a good deal upon what he learned in Rawliide,
however, for it was evident Curtis North had ob-

140 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

literated himself as much as possible and was now
the well-to-do semi-retired business man, Pentecost
Curtis, fat and prosperous, with a Wall Street office
scarcely used except for an address. He didn't live
on Twenty-third Street, not he I That was good
enough for Otero, his pal, or maybe as a spare bur-
row wherein to hide in case of necessity. Stacy's
reception by Ih. .nulatto maid of Number 441 now
also seemed in line with his surmises, and her curi-
ous reticence and brusque demand for his name to
be evidence that she had been duly cautioned. It
was probable, also, that Curtis North had severed
all connection with his Rawhide mine, would act vir-
tuously indignant if even called its former president,
and as Pentecost Curtis would disclaim all knowl-
edge of that swindle. And now with so much of this
web of trickery and assumed name thought out, it
occurred to Stacy — the skeptic, air-castle builder,
and shrewd business man combined — that in this
obliteration of a scamp from his former rascalities
was an opening to give that arch-villain at least a
severe scare. Then, and following this conclusion,
came the possibility of another bold stroke. In case
Uncle Asa sold Bear Hole Swamp to Otero, con-
federate of Curtis North, alias P. Curtis, of forcing
this swindler to give up the deed or face legal con-
sequences.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

141

" By Jove, I'll do it if I can," Stacy exclaimrd,
now springing to his feet in his private cor ■.,.
ment of the on-rushing train; and then a« liiC
comical side n! his plot and plan occurred to him,
he laughed long and heartily.

" I wonder what Uncle Asa will say if I do," he
added, subsiding, " and Hazel I Also Sam, who
thought he had so good a joke on me? If I do, I'll
buy that certificate of him as a souvenir! "

Then this builder of air-castles leaped back to
Maple Dell in thought and to the cool yet sweet
and bewitching maid who dwelt there. He also
wondered what slie would say or think of his gift
of books and music, and how it was that she was so
distrustful of him on sight? He was now satisfied
that her coolness was all due to her imagining him
there to inveigle her confiding father, and this, per-
haps, more than all else, now inspired him to, as he
would say, " do that shrewd, slick swindler, Curtis."

" I'll drop one tiny hot coal on her pretty head,"
he again muttered with a smile, and then, as if
smiles are never long with us, his thoughts reverted
to the last time he saw Miss Hazel in the hammock
with a citified gallant no doubt saying all sort of
sweet things to her; whereat, it is needless to say,
his smile vanished.

Three days is a long time to a busv man who

142 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

has only his always active mind with books and
cigars for company; and to Stacy, with many things
to vex him besides, these three seemed interminable,
and the two thorns in the flesh were Hazel's cool
indifference, and the fear that Uncle Asa would
fail to land this Otero as Stacy had instructed him
and so nullify all chance of obtaining justice.

" Uncle Asa's too honest to cope with such vil-
lains," Stacy said to himself, recalling his benign
face with its enclosing fringe of white beard like
a halo. " He judges all mankind by himself, and
will get left in this diamond-cut-diamond game."

It was four A. M. when Stacy's train halted at a
small station where a branch line ran up to Raw-
hide, and the only other victim of an unseemly time-
table was a middle-aged man of vigorous build
short-cropped black beard, and wearing a broad'
hght-gray slouched hat, who alighted from another
car. Of course the two bowed and smiled at one
another as perforce they must, and Stacy, noticing
that the other wore a Mystic Shrine pin, was first
to speak.

" ] ='« y°" h^^« -" he said, quoting the

usual hailing words of that Order, and extending
his hand.

" ^ ''^^^ •" returned the other cordially.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 143

also offering his, and so mutual good fellowship
was established on the instant.

And never before was Stacy more glad that he
belonged to that Order than now.

"My name's Harkins, Jim Harkins," this man
next added, "and bound for Rawhide. I live
there."

"And mine's Whipple from down east," Stacy
returned. " I, too, am going up to Rawhide," and
then he looked around. The station, a long one-
story building labeled "Rawhide Junction," and
divi.Jed into Wells-Fargo Express Office, baggage
and waiting-room, with barn and one dwelling back
of it, he recalled from his visit over six years previ-
ous ; two other abodes and a pmall store had been
added since, and beside the old stage road up into
the mountains lay a narrow-gauge railroad. The
sun was just reddening the mountains that seemed
to rise one above another bare-topped, two of the
most distant were snow-capped, and so clear the air
and so silent this long narrow valley that the rumble
of the departing train now miles away returned
distinctly, even to the hiss of escaping steam.

" We've got over two hours to wait for tlie east-
bound train and ours up to Rawhide," Harkins
next asserted after Stacy had obtained his bearings.

144

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" I've a couple of sandwiches and flask in my grip,
will you join me in a bite and sup? It's no break-
fast till we get to Rawhide about nine, if we have
good luck."

And so this keen-eyed, shrewd-spoken man made
friends, and at once won the good will and confi-
dence of the equally keen-witted Stacy. The latter
was, however, disposed to be cautious regarding the
nature of his errand here.

" I was up at this Rawhide camp about seven
years ago," he admitted casually after the one-sand-
wich lunch in the empty waiting-room. " It has
grown some since then, I presume."

" You will hardly know it," returned Harkins di-
rectly. " Then it was one of the roughest of min-
ing camps without law or order, now we have good
public buildings, a bank, hotels, and electric lights
— a remarkable growth in that time."

" You are a resident there, or in business, I as-
sume?" came next from Stacy, who always sought
facts by circuitous routes.

" I was super of a mine when you were there,
I am marshal now," answered Harkins modestly.

And then a sudden thrill of satisfaction came to
Stacy, for this was indeed good luck.

" And did you happen to hear of or come in con-
tact with a chap by the name of Curtis North about

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

145

the time you were mine super? " queried Stacy cau-
tiously.

" Oh, yes, I knew all about him," responded Har-
kins, flashing a sharp glance at Stacy. "A big,
red-faced, white-whiskered, pompous cuss, and bad
lot combined. He started a fake mine scheme there
but got into some trouble and left 'tween two days.
He and a pal of his, a low-down Greaser they used
to call Skim; Otero was his name. They and a
pair of women from 'Frisco done up a couple of
miners from Humpback Camp further up, and lit
out that night with the loot — or what the women
didn't share. One of these miners was found dead
in the shack the women had occupied, but they
vanished before the murder was discovered."

" But why weren't this North and his pal pur-
sued, captured, and strung up?" inquired Stacy.
" Was no evidence of the crime obtainable? "

" Oh, plenty, but there wasn't much law in Raw-
hide just then and nobody took the matter up.
These two mine were doped, it was believed, by
the women ; one got a cracked skull in the round-up,
the other came to the next afternoon and told
the story. There was a watch fob belonging to
this whiskered chap found m the hut, also, a buffalo
head of solid gold ; I've got it at home."

For fully five minutes Stacy pondered over this

ijmAx^jn/ammL :^^mmif^

t-^

^JM!tA.'<hfW'^m

146

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

brief yet pertinent bit of mining-camp history —
ordinary items in such a gathering of lawless hu-
manity, yet the very facts he wanted or had hoped
to find — before he decided what to say or ask for
next. This fellow, Harkins, while a brother Mason
and likely to be all right and on the square, was yet a
stranger. He might be discreet, and he might not.
Good fellowship and " on-the-squareness " didn't
always carry discretiori as Stacy well knew, and he
had come a thousand miles out of his way to obtain
facts and set a trap for one of the shrewdest
swindlers! Caution was almost obligatory now,
and he had it in ample degree.

" You spoke of a fake mining scheme started
by this whiskered chap," he said finally ; " what was
it?"

" Oh, just the ordinary kind," laughed Harkins,
as if such things were a joke, " and to skin the new-
comers, the tenderfoots. This fellow North and
his pal, the Greaser, got hold of an abandoned mine
up the gulch, just a hole in the bank some fool had
dug — that is they obtained the government patent
on the claim — bouglit a few secondhand tools and
set a couple of men to blasting, and the next I heard
had organized the Rawliide Gold Mining and Re-
duction Company, capital two hundred thousand
dollars. They didn't even try to sell stock in Raw-

Inh

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

147

hide — the boys were onto the game there — only
this North took trips away, gone a month or so,
then back again, while Skim sorter waited 'round
and bossed the two men blasting. When his pard,
as I always counted this North, returned, they were
in some one of the poker games on every nigh! and
usually all night. It might have been six months,
might be a year — we don't keep tabs on time over-
much in a mining camp — after the two men were
set at work blasting in what we all knew was a no-
good mine, when this North gazoo brought these
two women to Rawhide, and a tough pair they were,
too ! One was known, I heard later, as ' Bricktop
Molly ' and — well, you know the game such fairies
play, and a lawless mining camp is just their sort
of pasture. Anyhow these two kicked up quite a
rumpus in Rawhide, then skinned out in the nick o'
time to save themselves a coat of tar and new
feathers."

"Could this 'Bricktop Molly' be found now?"
interposed Stacy.

" I guess so," laughed Harkins, eyeing him curi-
ously, " such a red head as hers couldn't be hid in
Nevada."

" I might need her for a witness," Stacy returned
slowly, "or a make-believe one." Then he arose
and extended his hand to Harkins.

148

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And then came a meeting of those two extended
hands that inch by inch resolved itself into a clasp,
the sacredness and obligation of which needs no
words among true Masons the world over. A
clasp or grip, by the way, that once exchanged be-
tween such binds each to the other in loyal aid and
assistance as naught else can.

" And now. Brother Harkins," continued Stacy,
after the two sat down again, " I'm going to tell
you who I am, and what I'm after here."

And tell he did, or at least all that would now
interest Harkins, or pertained to the trap to catch
Pentecost Curtis and pal, Otero, and bring them to
justice.

" I don't really want the bother of a court trial
to jail them," admitted Stacy after this disclosure.
" I do mean to obtain such evidence as will make
North or Curtis give up the deed of this Bear Hole
Swamp — I assume he has now obtained or soon
will obtain from this Uncle Asa — and gladly, too,
to escape the law. Also, give him such a scare that
he will give Oakdale and Barre both a wide berth
forever after."

"I guess we can," asserted Harkins, while a
meaning smile spread over his face. " I'll do what
I can to help you, and that is some. The boys at
Rawhide will back me in anything, even a lynching

11 •

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

149

-1.^1

now, for since I took the marshalship I've driven
out a good many bad characters we hadn't room
for."

" I'm willing to pay all expenses," admitted Stacy
in response, " and liberally. I may also want you
to come East and serve a warrant on Curtis North,
alias Pentecost Curtis; possibly bring this miner
who lived to tell the tale of that night's orgie, rob-
bery and murder of his companion, and with that
full hand of scare cards we might add an affidavit
from this ' Bricktop Molly,' if she can be found
and frightened into giving one."

" I don't believe you will need all that hand,"
responded Harkins. "North will know me the
moment he sets eyes on me, a warrant and my badge
will do the trick in short order; if not, the buffalo
head watch fob flashed at the right moment will
add an ace that will convince him I hold the winning
cards."

And then once more these two men, brothers now
in the cause of justice, shook hands.

Another hour was passed in social chat with more
cigars to add fraternalism, then the station agent
made his appearance, said " Hullo Jim " to Har-
kins, the east-bound train came along and dropped
a half-dozen passengers, the narrow-gauge train
backed up, its conductor said " All aboard for Raw-

ISO THE CASTLE BUILDERS

hide," and then for another hour Stacy watched out
the car window and chatted with Harkins, while
their train crawled up the narrow mountain gorge
to that once lawless camp and hatchery of a
swindle, and now prosperous mining town of Raw-
hide.

lr:if

CHAPTER XIII

HAZEL'S home life, or relation with her
stepmother, was even more unpleasant
than Stacy imagined, and all that made
her endure it was love for her father, and loyalty
to him. To begin with, the Widov\ Baker, as Sara
had informed Stacy, was a Tartar and miser com-
bined, and to obtain and hoard money her sole am-
bition in life. She had, when Hazel was twelve
years old, and two years after her mother's death,
begun a deliberate assault upon Uncle Asa's feel-
ings and sympathy with all the arts of a designing
woman, and more from a false belief that Hazel
needed a mother's care than from any feeling for
her he had capitulated, so to speak, and installed
her as mistress ni his ancient and lonesome abode.
It was an unwise step, as he soon discovered, but
the deed was done, the knot tied, and as he once
admitted to himself, " arter the hook's in, it's in,
'n' derned hard v.urk to git it out agin." He saw
no way to do so in this case, and, as was his nature,
set about wuvking the best of vi philosophically.
" We got to grin 'n' beat some things in this world,
151

152 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Hazel," he said to her soon after her return from
school in Barre, " 'n' carry a cross, ez the parson
sez. Mebbe Martha 'n' them two boys o' hern is
my cross now. All I kin hope fer is you will help
me bear it till ye git married, if ye do, 'n' then —
wal then I'm goin' to build me a shack down by the
shore 'n' live thar 'n' drop the cross. Martha kin
hev the house all to herself then."

So unfit for one another were they that within
two years after the fatal step Uncle Asa began oc-
cupying a separate sleeping-room, and after that
avoided Martha as much as possible. Hazel could
neither do or say anything to mend matters, in fact,
had no wish to do so. From the very outset, she
despised, almost hated her stepmother, and in order
not to be obligated in any way to her, as soon as
she obtained a chance to teach, she insisted upon
paying Martha for her board. This was tlie family
status that June day when Stacy burst out of the
woods upon her so suddenly, and one cause for her
first apparent dislike of him arose from the fact
that Martha speedily assured her that he must be
an eligible catch for a husband and, " if she knew
her business she'd set her cap for him forthwith."
To " set her cap " for anybody was not H-nzel's
way, and to be urged to do so by a stepmother she
hated, was even worse. " I'm not running after

. ilj

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

'53

any man as I've known some shameless women to
do," she sarcastically assured Martha, " and I don't
need your advice. I just despise any woman who
will do sucii a thing." Then, having discharged
this Parthian arrow, she left her.

Another and more serious cause for distrust of
Stacy came intuitively to her the first day when
Uncle Asa took him fishing, and was due to her
suspicion that he was another Curtis North, and
there to inveigle some one in some swindling
scheme. His unexpected return five days after his
departure — for she heard Of it the night he ar-
rived — also made her more distrustful, and then,
to cap the climax, came an assertion from this cousin
of Molly Bascom, soon after Stacy saw these two
in the hammock.

"Who is his job lots?" this Arthur Penrose
questioned rather flippantly after Stacy had raised
his hat and passed on.

"Oh, it's a Mr. Whipple from Albion," re-
sponded Hazel, indifferently. "He was here last
week trout fishing, and father took him out. I
don't know anything more about him, or care."

" I saw him hanging around the Barre House the
past four days," Master Arthur rejoined, " : id once
also in close discussion with another stranger —
two, in fact — down by the docks. One was a big,

jW - " ft:.

154 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

pompous fellow with white side-whiskers. His
name. I found out. was a queer one — Pentecost
Curtis — and he'd been loafing around Barre a
week."

Then, and straiffhtway. Hazel did sit up and take
notice I "Did he have a red face — a big fat
man—" she queried anxiously, "and wear a heavy
gold chain and big watch charm? "
^^ "Yes, that's him," returned Arthur cheerfully.
"A regular old man dude with stunning togs.
That's what made me look him upL He was a
whooper. and the chap with him, he was a little
monkey, with snaky eyes — Mexican, 1 should say.
I can't imagine what they were in Barre for. Put-
ting up some scheme with this chap who bowed to
you, I guess. They looked the part."

The fat was in the fire now and blazing merrily
-at least in Hazel's mind, and she at once began
to ply her Barre friend with all manner of ques-
tions anent these two and their possible errand in
Barre, but without eliciting any more facts than
had been vouchsafed her. With unusual feminine
discretion, also, she kept her suspicions of who this
Pentecost Curtis actually was to herself, and Mr.
Arthur Penrose, while willing enougli to carry gos-
sip to Oakdale, and insinuate all manner of evil
things against a man who even bowed to Hazel —

'j'UW'%'-7S'^''^mMffijj^miumsmip^^

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

»S5

whom, by the way, he admired intensely — was de-
prived of any chance to car--- news to Barre.
Neither would she or did she . any questions
about Stacy now. Not from an^ sentimental in-
terest in him, for none ' I'l come to her so far, yet
she was lofty in her idc-s .,f honor, and, therefore,
Stacy, having once broNon bread in her tent, so to
speak, was, or mi.t be considered, a friend until
actually proven otlitrwise

The lawn part;,, c. wint it actniily was, a dozen
of Oakdale's you;:;,' folk ^iulicrtd to lu'lp entertain
Miss Molly Bascom's cou.-i-:., swon lost ils attrac-
tion for Hazel. She wn-: too anxioin to see her
father and question him to enjoy anytMng here, so
she excused herself, and made ready tc depart.

" I'm coming over this evenin;;-, may I? " Arthur
whispered at the gate, and a smile frrnn Flazel at
his way of asking and cool " Yes, if you won't stay
late," were his reward, for the plain fact was, that
Mr. Arthur Penrose, while from one of the best
Barre families, bored Hazel e.xcessively. She had
met him during her one winter's experience of social
life in Barre, had danced with him, been escorted
to theaters, he had visited Oakdale twice before —
once remaining two weeks, while a common friend.

Miss Jennie Oaks, was sojourning with Hazel

and nil to pav court to Hazel. It had availed him

«£?^r^

156

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

hi h:

but little, for while considtred " a nice young man,"
he was shallow and foppish, smoked cigarettes,
which Hazel abominated, and she therefore barely
tolerated him. And now, in spite of her distrust of
Stacy, even in spite of this new revelation of his
probable duplicity, she was forced to contrast the
two men, and Stacy lost nothing by it. Once away
from the lawn party this peculiar contradiction
found expression quite characteristic of her.

" Oh, why will nice manly men stoop to ways that
are dark and tricks that are vain? " she said to her-
self homeward bound. " He certainly is a manly
fellow, his feyes haunt me, he is swayed by music,
and so has some fine sentiment, and he is so fear-
less I Oh, I wish I didn't have to distrust him ! "
Who "he" was, it is '- 'dless to assert.
But she was full to the i-am with suspicion now.
That this white-whiskered man whom she recalled
so vividly and his nefarious visit to Oakdale, had
now been seen in consultation with Stacy, was
proof positive of the latter's being another such
swindler, and his visit to the village inevitably must
be for a sinister purpose. And early that evening,
or when first she could speak to her father alone,
she pounced upon him like a young hawk.

" Father," she said in triumphant tone, " you
know what my suspicions of that Mr. Whipple

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

157

were, or what I said of him — well, he went to
Barre from here, met and had a consultation with
that Curtis North (now calling himself Pentecost
Curtis), who sold you that mine stock, and came
back to see you again, I know, for Martha says he
was here this morning. You took him to the train
I am sure, and — and, father, there is some game
afoot you won't tell me about. Did you know he
went to Barre to meet that man I'm sure is a
swindler? "

Then Uncle Asa's face took on one of his benign
.smiles and his eyes twinkled.

" Girlie," he said tenderly, yet chuckling, " you've
found a whangdoodle's nest, sure's a gun, 'n' the
old bird's on! I own up. I'm caught. I hain't
'zarkly bought some mine stock, I've done wuss, I've
swapped the hull farm, the house, 'n' B'ar Hole
Swamp for the mine itself!"

Then he chuckled again.

" Come, girlie," he added a moment later, and en-
closing her face in his two hands — a way with
him — " can't ye trust yer old dad no more ? Do ye
honestly think I'd git bit by the same snake twice
agoin'? That is 'lowin' I was bit by that mine
stock, which ain't sartin yet ? Do ye honestly think
I neet. a keeper over me, girlie? "

" Oh. no. no, father. I don't." came from

IS8 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Hazel speedily. "Only what does all this mean
and d>d you know that North man was in Barre to
meet Mr. Whipple? Oh, tell me, please, father."

Ill tell ye suthin most gals ez sweet ez you 'ud
hke better to know," he responded. " That is if
you-ll keep mum. Swar to goodness, ye will?"

" Yes, yes, father," again in anxious tone, " what
is It? "

" Wal, girlie " (more tenderly and now enclosing
her .the waist with one arm), " thar's a nice young
feller come here 'bout ten days ago, saw ye fust go
off up un,ler the big pi„e tree, seen ve a good deal
sense n' he's -wal, he's fallen plumb, plunk in
love wnh ye, all over, hook, line, bob, 'n' sinker'
Ihar now, what'd ye think o' that? "
Then Hazel grew rose red.
'•Did he say so?" she queried, quivering.
Say so!" ejaculated Uncle Asa with a snort,
^^ay g,rhe, do ye s'pose that Whipple feller is a
plumb gone jibberin' idjit 'n' rapscallion biled into
one? He hain't said nothin' 'cept you was a gal
whose smile he'd consider ez the key to Heaven or
suthin o; that sort. Oh, youve found out a lot,
but thars more comin'- mebbe _ vou can't even
,|rt.ess now, '„' I won't tell ye." Then and much to
ilazel s surprise, he stooped suddenly and kissed her

urn

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

159

And that night in the seclusion of her room and
when ready for Slumberland, Hazel held com-
munion with herself. Also, and at the same time,
surveyed herself in her small gilt- framed mirror —
too small to do justice to the reflected picture that
now smiled nut from it. And her rose-tinted face,
tender eyes, and luxuriant black hair like a flowing
mane half enclosing her daintily rounded shoulders,
white-draped, made a picture that would have set
Stacy's heart a-tingle could he but peeped in just
then. A strangely sweet and quite new mysticism
also added a thrill to her own pulses, half vexing,
half enchanting, scarce explainable. And was this
man, this bold fellow she had so doubted and dis-
trusted, yet admired, the coming Prince Perfect
ready to lay his heart at her dainty feet for her
to say " yes " to, and let him dominate her life or
else reject, as she now felt that she would if the
chance came? And what was the meaning of her
father's hilarious action? In all the years of their
life since her mother's death she had never seen him
in such a mood, so like a big boy ready to shout an<l
turn handsprings from insane joy. And what
could have happened so to upset him ? What magic
spell had this new admirer of her own sweet self
woven over her calm, philosophic father? And

i6o THE CASTLE BUILDERS

right in the face of a discovery of her own that she
felt was prima facie evidence of this young man's
guilt? It was past understanding I

And the more she conned the situation over,
Stacy Whipple's visit here, his open admiration of
herself — pleasing and quite natural, his going
away, mysterious and sudden return, pursuit of her
father, and now tliis gay turn of her benign parent
all combined — the more mysterious it all seemed.
And why should this young man first disclose his
love for herself to her father? It wasn't the usual
way, according to her own intuitions and the story
books. No harm, of course, and quite honorable,
yet unusual. But there was something beyond
this, som« other development more astounding than
the simple one of an admission of love for herself
she was sure. She had never been one to question
her father's moods to any extent. She had un-
hmited faith in his good sense and love for her-
self, and also knew that her stepmother had
proved herself a thorn in his side, and that any
inquiries as to the cause of his moods, had better be
avoided. She believed as well that his own honesty
and confidence in others had been taken advantage
of by this swindler, North, and why might it not
be another swindling game now being worked by

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

i6i

Stacy, with an assertion of love for herself as a
clinching argument?

During the call of Mr. Penrose that evening, he
had repeated his description of this Pentecost Cur-
tis and Otero with rather vapid assertions about
their mission to Barre, but this had no weight with
Haze! now beyond the fact of identity. The one
crucial mystery, the one past all understanding, was
why her father, knowing her suspicions of Stacy,
should yet ignore them now in the face of being
assured that Curtis North, masked as Pentecost
Curtis, had been seen in consultation with him.

It is needless to say that she found Slumberland
far distant that night, and so worried was she over
this problem, that she tossed and turned on her
pillow for hours, unconscious of the murmur of the
near-by brook or the sweet fragrance of the bloom-
ing lilacs that entered her open windows. While
she might have enjoyed tiie first sweet illusion of
love, or its coming to tinge her dreams, instead, it
was the ogre of duplicity and danger to her father
that haunted her.

Three days after, and duly delivered to her by
the stage driver. Uncle Levi, came the package of
books and music from Stacy.
" It's from Albion," Uncle Levi asserted, watch-

1 62

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

ing her curiously. " Wa'n't that whar that young
feller, Whipple, cum from?"

" I am sure I don't know," declared Hazel inno-
cently. "I never asked Mr. Whipple where he
came from."

" I s'pose ye know, or ye've heard," he added,
" somebody's goin' to buy B'ar Hole Swamp 'n' dam
it, hain't ye? He told me so, anyhow."

" Oh, yes, I heard that three days ago," returned
Hazel indifferently, " but I don't believe it." Then
she hurried to her room to open the package as
speedily as possible ; also with trembling fingers and
flushed face as well, for she knew on the instant who
had sent it.

And one day later, on the arrival of the last train
from Barre, there alighted from it a dapper little
chap with shifty black eyes, mustache waxed to two
sharp points, garbed in light-grey summer suit, tan
shoes, gray spats, and carrying a cane and suit-case.
" It ees to Oakdale town I vish to go," he said to
Uncle Levi. And long before he arrived there he
became fully informed by that worthy talebearer
of several pertinent facts and the intentions of some
mysterious persons, as Stacy had intended that he
should be.

The trap w.is now well bailed and wide open.

CHAPTER XIV

SIX years of the inrush of gold seekers to a
mining camp is like a generation of time
towards its growth. In a night, almost, it
springs up like Jonah's gourd or a mushroom ; and
from the cluster of the crudest sod hovels and board
shacks Stacy first saw Rawhide to be — now as he
looked upon it from the piazza of the " Hotel Raw-
hide " that morning of his arrival, lie beheld a mar-
vel of growth and change. From this vantage point
at the upper end of its main street he saw handsome
gray stone buildings with big plate glass windows,
and architectural in design. A bank with pillars
and bastions of gray marble occupied one strtet cor-
ner, a ten-story iron and concrete building faced it,
tlie spirts of three churches — one upbearing a big
gilt cross, evidently Catholic — arose from the med-
ley of structures, the white globes of arc lights were
in ample evidence adown the vista, and trollev cars
could be seen coming or going upon the main thor-
oughfare. Beyond and across the canyon, tiers of
dwellings arose along the base of the mountain
slope, an iron bridge crossed the brauKup stream

1 64

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

shop chimneys p«.'epiii up from its bank, and a busy,
crowding tlirong of humanity, including well-
dressed women, were everywhere visible.

For an hour Stacy surveytxl this panorama of
amazing growth while he srt>ok«vl and cogitated
upon the phenomenon, then Harkins came up to the
hot '

' I'll show you arouml <w», Mr. Whipple," he as-
si ed Stacy, and nothing Loth the latter joined him
in a tour of inspection.

"I can't locate a single landmark," Stacy ad-
mitted after a half-lunir of this, " not even 'he spot
where the one-story saloon stood and where I saw
this Curtis North and his pal, ' Skim,' as you called
him, swapping cards."

" There's where it stood," replied Harkins, point-
ing to a six-story building with a dry-goods store
occupying an entire lower floor, "and Tom Mc-
Cue, the jolly Irishman who ran it, owns that block
and is worth a round million and so fat he o,in't
run or fight. All he does is collect his rentf, and <cll
stories of the ' ould days' in Rawhide. He is a
character here, with a memory like a mirror and the
deeds, doings, and history of the old camp crowd at
his tongue's end. We will drop into Tim Riley's
saloon, his loafing place, and I'll introduce you as a
tourist visiting licre.

THE CASTLE BUILDKRS

«6S

" There's where the cabin stood whrre that rminer
was found dead," Harkins said five minutes later,
on a side street and pointing to a pretentious con-
crete building labeled " Odeon Theater, Vaudeville."
" And here is the watch charm your man North
wore that fatal night." he added, now drawing it
from his pocket. " I found it under the dead man
that afternoon. It was this clue and the fact both
North and Skim had hired horses at two o'clock that
morning and rode to the station, leaving on the same
train you came on, that satisfied me they were par-
ties to the murder. The two women took the stage
leaving here then at about seven in the morning, and
the killing was not heard of until that afternoon, or
when this other miner came to and crawled out of
the cabin."

Stacy took the massive gold buffalo-head fob now
destined to play so important a part in his pl.uis, and
eyed it curiously. It was crudely made, evidently
filed or carved from a lump of virgin go! I, and as
conspicuous and vulgar a part of man's adornment
as Curtis North himself was of the race of men.
Doubtless, also, as now recurred to Stacy in an in-
stant there must be scores of men in Rawhide who
would swear to having seen it worn by Curtis North,
if that was necessary, tluis adding one mnie valua-
ble fact or bit of evidence.

i66

THE CASTLF. BUILDERS

" Don't lose it, Mr. Harkiiis," he cautioned liim,
now handing it bacl<. " It may be wortli ten times
its weight to me later on."

" I've kept it safe for almost six years," Harklns
returned smiling, " so guess I can keep it a few
months more.

" Here's where McCue loafs," he added, now
leading the way through a lu.xuriously furnished
bar-room into its back room, and here were two
men tilted back in their chairs and smoking black
clay pipes. One, Stacy recognized on the instant as
the redoubtable McCue ; rotund and red-faced.

A " Hullo, Jim," from him to Harkins, as he
arose and the two shook hands, and a " My friend,
Mr. Whipple, Mr. McCue and Mr. Casey," com-
prised the off-hand greetings, and then the incomers
sat down.

" Mr. Whipple is a friend of mine paying Raw-
hide a flying visit, Tom," Harkins next explained,
" and I brought him here to call on you."

" Ony frind o' yours is me frind, too," McCue
responded, now rapping on a small round table.
" Sarve the jintl'min," he added with a grandilo-
quent handwave to the barkeeper who came at his
sum nons, " an' the bist ye hov."

•'An' so ye do be visitin' the town, is it?" he

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THE CASTLE BUILDERS

167

next queried, after the libation and relighting his
pipe. "Well, it's a foine city, so it be, but dom
dull now. Not loike the ould times at all, at all."

" I was here about six years ago for a few days,"
Stacy asserted in response, " and visited your place
a few times."

" An' did ye ? " smiled McCue, much pleased.
" Shure that was foine. Och, be jabers, but we l^id
g-r-reat fun those days, shure we did," he continued.
" Not a week but someone was shot or sthrung up
by the b'ys for devilmint. Ah, but those toimes
war g-r-reat for sport. Shure I had two kilt in me
place one month, so I did, but it's all over now.
Nothin' doin' at all, sor, but ate an' slape an' pull at
me pipe all the day long."

Then he sighed and puffed hard at his pipe to get
it well going again.

"Do ye raycollect the little Chink, Jim, we
sthrung up one mornin' ? " he again continued after
the pause, " the little monkey, so he war, who put a
ball into Andy O'Houlihan jist bekase he took hi?
washin' widout payin'? An' how we forgot to tie
his hands an' the cuss got holt o' the rope an' climbed
up an' tlie b'ys shot him ? Ah, but thar war lively
toimes thin, an' money so plinty, too. Many a night
I tuk in two hundred dollars in me place jist for

i68

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

dhrinks, an' as much more in the two kitties. But
the ould toimes is gone for good, an' dom dull now,
dom dull."

" Do you remember a fellow by name of North,
Curtis North?" Stacy now inquired, smiling at
the Irishman who so enjoyed shootings and lynch-
ings. " A chap with big white side-whiskers? "

"An' shure I .do," smiled McCue, cheering up
again, " an' a broth ov a b'y he war, too, to spind
money, jist loike it war brown laves an' he owned
the world. But he wint sour over a couple o' wim-
men, so he did, an' lift bechune two days. Kilt a
man for 'era, didn't he, Jim? A Swede be the
name o' Johnson, an' 'most kilt another, Olaf Tyg-
son, wa'n't it, Jim ? "

"I think that was the name," responded Har-
kins, also smiling. " Some sort of a -son. They
both were like all Swedes. Do you know what has
become of him?"

*' Oh, he's livin', so he is," answered McCue. " I
saw him in town a month ago. He's up to Tlump-
back now, so he be."

" Do you have any idea where the women are ? "
Stacy next queried, cautiously. " That is, if anyone
wanted to find them? "

" Shure I don't," came from McCue, now eyeing
Stacy sharply, " an'— an'— a.xin' yer pardon, sor.

>i.-4«:/*i

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

169

but take me advice an' don't be chasin' 'em, sor,
widout ye want to lose money an' lots of it, sor.
Them sort of wimmen do be the divil's own, so
they be. Lave 'em alone, Mister Whipple, lave 'em
alone."

Much more of this loquacious Irishman's dia-
logue was listened to by Stacy with interest ; then,
after treating in turn, he and Harkins made another
tour of the town and returned to the hotel.

" It looks as if you had all the evidence you
need," Harkins now asserted. " This Swede, Tyg-
son, can be found if you care to go to the expense,
and we can take him east to confront your man.
North, if you wish. My idea, however, is it won't
be necessary to do that. It all depends upon what
you want to do, Mr. Whipple. Is it law and justice
you want meted out to him, or just force him to give
up the deed you explained about? Take your
choice ; you can have either one, but not both."

'■ I know that," admitied Stacy, stroking his mus-
tr " But — but — I want to think it over be-

fore deciding. There are wheels within wheels in
this affair, and mixed up in the game is a handsome
adventuiess I once admired, now intimate with your
Greaser, ' Skim,' or Otero ; also with Curtis North
and a member of the Barre town committee, who
are obligated to pay us a lot of money in the near

^Mra/wm-"

'■t^s«

170

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

future. Oh, it's a tnerry mix-up, I assure you.
The one thing I am positive about is that I don't
want to make a personal enemy now, or any more
so than she is, of this handsome adventuress I told
you about. She has no hold en me, yet you know
a woman lik 'at can make things mighty unpleas-
ant for any man if she sets about it."

" Right you are," laughed Harkins, who had
traveled, and observed many things. " The joker
in this pack is the woman — Carmen, I think you
said her name was — or rather her beauty and its
pull on men is the joker. No, Brother Whipple,"
he added after a long pause, " don't play any game
for high stakes with a joker in the pack. It isn't
safe. And even less so when the said joker is a
handsome woman without a scrap of honor."

And just then Stacy thought of the diamond
bracelet this harpy had obtained with mate to it
promised, for her aid to " Jo " him, and grinned
ruefully. Also kicked himself, metaphorically, to
think how he once had been made so many kinds of
a fool of by his admiration if " La Rosa."

Hazel's face came to mind at this juncture as
well, and tlie fine scorn that would spread over it
were she but informed how he had once pursued
the Carmen. Innocently, too, as a matter of fact,
and yet Hazel would never believe it of him — no

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

171

woman will — as he knew full well; and then an-
other rueful grin came to his lips, for none of us
enjoys the predicament of being wrongfully be-
lieved guilty, yet unable to prove it.

" I think. Brother Harkins," he said finally, " we
will go a leetle slow in 'his matter, as Uncle Asa
would say. I'd like to see justice meted out to this
swindler and murderer combined. I almost feel
that I'd enjoy what your friend McCue admits he so
often did — a lynching bee with Curtis North as its
star feature. If he could be lured to this town and
a picked committee of ' the b'ys ' given a tip to do
their duty it would, as Col. Sellers said, 'meet
with my entire approbation.' But I don't see how
it can be done. If my trap scores, and you and I
can make North give up the deed I suppose he has
now obtained, I'll spend a thousand dollars to aid
you in luring 'his whiskers' to Rawhide and —
you can attend to the rest. But from my viewpoint
now I don't want to be mixed up in it.

" I've got to go on to Seattle," he added after a
moment's pause, "and must use a month to fin! A
my business in the West. In the meantime I wish
you'd hunt up this Olaf Tygson, obtain any sort of
affidavit you think best from him, also any other
corroborative evidence you can find, and when I
return to Rawhide, as I shall before going East, we

173

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

will decide how to act. It may be best for you to
go on with me and land this villain before he skips
the country. "

Then, being a considerate business man, he wrote
a check for two hundred dollars and handed it to
Harkins, " for contingent expenses," as he assured
him.

" Your town, Mr. Harkins, with its .marvelous
growth appeals to me especially," Stacy continued,
changing the subject, after this adjustment of their
mutual plans, " for I am by nature an air-castle
builder myself, and here is a pertinent example of
what we in the East would call an impossibility.
Also proof positive that law, order, and prosperity
go hand in hand. Six years a Rawhide, as you
assert, was practically a canker sj, ot on the map with
a few hundred greedy gold-seekers for its main
population and workers, with perhaps one quarter
as many thieves, swindlers, and harpies who came to
prey upon them. That condition, or what your
friend McCue called ' great doin's wid lynchin's an'
shootin's ivery wake or two,' lasted but a short
while, then, presto! law steps in, away go the evil
spirits, the law-breakers, and a well-ordered and
well-behaved town springs up in place of the pest
house of vice it once was. You, also, with your

. ^« !■ J^f. ■

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

173

Vigilance Committee backing, are entitled to much
of the credit as well."

" Yes, a little, maybe," responded Harkins mod-
estly, " and the same law and order will in due time
clean out and purify all mining camps, I've noticed.
All it needs is to have the organization of public
sentiment, string up a few, and the rest fall over
themselves to jet away, as they did from here."

" How would it work if this Curtis North was
to set foot in Rawhide now?" interrupted Stacy,
castle building again. " Would you and your back-
ers decide a lynching bee about the right welcome
for him? "

"Oh, I could fix it, maybe," smiled Harkins,
"but it wouldn't be necessary. We have a law
court now."

" Yes, and lawyers to quibble and fight prosecu-
tion and defeat justice just as long as a criminal's
money lasts," responded Stacy, who had had experi-
ence with the clan.

" That is true," admitted Harkins, smiling again,
"but I suppose lawyers are a mi\;d evil from a
percentage basis. That is, allowing that one in five
is strictly honest and would not knowingly defend
an actual criminal no matter how fat the fee."
" Put it one in ten and I'll accept the amend-

'74

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

tnent," interjected Stacy, who was more of a cynic.

" And now and then an innocent man needs de-
fense," continued Harkins, " so we do need lawyers
after all."

" Yes, perhaps in a few cases," asserted Stacy,
" but what we need more is a higher standard of
professional honor among them — tliose who would
refuse to defend anyone they had reason to believe
was guilty. As it ib, not one in ten but tnat will
lock his conscience in the safe and fight justice
tooth and nail so long as a criminal's money lasts."

When Stacy left Kawiiide the next lay he car-
ried away two ciistinct impressions: First, of its
marvelous growth and purification from a rude
mining camp where vice and crime of every grade
ruled supreme, to a prosperous, well-behaved, and
properly-governed town with churches, a librar
and law and order; the other, its picturesque loca-
tion at the apex of a triangular valley surrounded
by sharply-defined mountains, between two of which
opened a winding gorge, and adown which leap?d
and cascaded a sizable stream called The Humii-
ba-k. Timber — fir, spruce, and larch of primal
grow h • — covered a!! foothills ; the stream was lim-
itless for the production of power; gold-bearing
quartz was the basic feature of the mountain, and so
herein and hereabout lay all the rudiments needed

!:;!

THE CASTLR BUII.DKRS

»73

for a prosperous mining Utwn such as had alrcndy
started. And no-- as all this crystallized in his
mind and became a fixed picture, back to Oakdale
he leaped in thmght and *o the city soon to spring
up at the bidding of another sti'ini — tjie Rocky
Glen brook, with a snug harbor and tlie white wings
of commerce to add impetus. Here was no lawless
camp to overcome and purify. Instead, here lay a
fertile valley, already tilled, and a community of
simple-minded, God-respecting farmers of pure
hlood and honest minds, to start his city aright.
And here, also, dwelt a keen-witted, sweet-faced
little maid, whose mind was beyond her years and
who had sprung cut of the .shadow of obscurity like
a bewitching fairy to touch his heart with the magic
V. jnd of love, and perhaps become the queen of his
future life.

rtnd now, once mc-e on board a main line Pull-
man train and speeding further westward, somehow
he began to feel him.sclf in the lilac and syringa-
shaded porcli in Hazel Dell once more, to smell the
mingled fragrance of that sequestered spot, :w[ to
hear the murmuring broo!: and Hazel's auto-harp
again.

" In love ? " vou ask once more.

Yes, very mucli so now In fact so much sn that
no peace and no rest for his air-casllc-buiUIiiig spirit

176

THE CASTLli BUILDERS

was possible unless this occult little fairy queen
sliared it.

In the meantime, Curtis North, alias Pentecost
Curtis, and O'cro must be reckoned with.

I '

CHAPTER XV

AS Sam Walter Foss h: so impressively said,
" There are pioneer souls that blaze their
path where never highway ran." And
Stacy Whipple's v such a one. There are. also,
other pioneer souls not as sensible and idyllic as his
who L'-aze their way, not as he did in the skies, but
underground. And Curtis North was possessed of
one. From the very outset of his life as a well-
educated son of a Puritan fath he had found liv-
ing by his wits and imposing upon the credulity of
others an easy matter. Beginning as a peddler of
quack nostrums, he had taken to being a ince
age, It for a circus, then to running a side si /as
part of that, together with the usual gambling de-
vices used to fleece the unsophisticated. Next, he
became manager of a branch bucket shop in a small
city, with a poker club as an adjunct, and finally,
with ample means gathered in these various indus-
tries, he had drifted vestward to Rawhide, met and
attached to himself one Leon Otero, as unscrupulous
and keen-witted a gambler as he, and organized
The Rawhide Gold Mining and Reduction Company
177

178

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

E i

in legal manner and of alluring prospectus, and thus
armed and equipped had returned East to a more
civilized country to sell stock and devoar the un-
wary.

But, like many another bumptious and successful
gambler, he sighed for new people to conquer,
greater schemes to manipulate, and a wider scope
for swindling. To this end and purpose he came
to New York, and to that Mecca of all greatest
gamblers. Wall Street. Here, with an office in the
name of " Curtis & Company " in a building devoted
to such, he had just established himself when along
came a " tip," as he would call it, that led him to
Barre. He did not go to Oakdale, for obvious rea-
sons, however. He had been there once as Curtis
North and carried away a mere trifle of about five
thousand dollars as reward for a month's pleasure
sojourn. Anyhow, that was not necessary. He
now had a side-partner of as keen wits, if less
money, who could do as well — even better — since
to facilitate such swindling he was now posing as
the ostensible agent for a steamship company whose
business was the importation of emigrants from
various European countries.

And be it said, criminals of all classes and both
sexes were just as welcome to them as honest people,
so long as the price was forthcoming.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

179

Not for long did Curtis North — now and for
five years masked as Pentecost Curtis, the given
name of which had been his father's — remain in
Barre. It was neither prudent nor necessary, and so
having hatched the plot that was adroitly and also
legally to make the firm of Bemis, Colby & Com-
pany pay well for a reservoir site they needed, he
left the details to be worked out by his tool, Otero,
and hied himself away to New York.

Here, in line with his new vocation and ambition,
he began to lay plans for another swindling scheme,
which was the broad and comprehensive one of
organizing a stock company to buy up and reclaim
a few thousand acres of worthless marsh land on
the Passaic river above Newark. To this end he
first set about obtaining a charter under the com-
plaisant laws of New Jersey. He secured next a
suitable chart or map of the lands in question, with
a prospectus in connection therewith, setting forth
in glowing terms the ostensible object of the com-
pany and plans and dividends sure to be paid. This,
also, he knew, was the trump card sure to take the
trick of the gullible public's money. It had worked
successfully in the Rawhide swindle, and while not
all of that capital stock had been sold before its
master spirit grew wary, changed his name, and
abandoned it, enough had been converted into cash

i8o

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

it,

to give him means to carry out a fourfold greater
one.

But the carrying out of this new, larger, and more
plausible scheme must take more time. Surveys
and maps must be made and men hired to make
them. A few business men of minor prominence
and some reputation for honesty must be cajoled
and persuaded to allow the use of their names —
given stock, of course, as payment. Printers' ink
and lithographers' aid were to be called in, and
many lesser details attended to. The plan and
proposition must also wear the guise of legality,
and once hatched and under way, some land must
actually be bought, more secured for possible need
by the attainment of options, and everything
apparently done from honest intent and purpose.
The firm of Curtis & Company, Mills Building,
Wall Street, were, of course, reputable business
men! Pentecost Curtis, a well-to-do financier
whose experience and money was back of and in
this philanthropic scheme to furnish low-cost
building lots and home sites for the working class
of an overcrowded city! Why, to be sure, they
were, as everything in the prospectus must assert ;
and beyond that, no loophole must be left whereby
if the plan failed any disgruntled investor could
take legal action against the immaculate and honor-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

i8i

■

able firm of Curtis & Company ! Not for one mo-
ment! That would be preposterous!

And so Pentecost Curtis, fat, sleek, suave, smooth-
spoken, always well-garbed, and living luxuriously
at a prominent hotel, stroked his flowing side-
whiskers, smoked choice cigars, took an occasional
flyer in the stock market to keep in touch with men
whose names he might need later, and assured
every one he became at all intimate with that stock
speculation was after all too risky for him to follow,
and that the more stable one of investment in and
improvement of suburban property promised safer
and more certain returns.

And it did — to him.

He did not fear ever meeting one of those he had
swindled as Curtis North, or any outcome from tlie
debauch that had cost a poor miner his life. That,
after all, was only an episode common enough in the
lawless camp where it happened, where a gambler
shot over a card table, or a red-handed desperado
strung up on the nearest tree was an incident forgot-
ten in a week. If ever accused of connection with
this orgie of drink and robbery he could brazenly
deny his identity, he was sure, and force its belief.
Only two factors or connecting links ever troubled
him. The first, his whiskers so noticeable, also so
consoling to his vanity; he had even thouglit best

■■v: jvt^'unr ,

183

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

at the time he changed his name to shave them oflF,
but so satisfying were they to liis own self-approval
that he could not do so. The other and less dan-
gerous link was the lost watch fob he had not
missed that fatal niglit until too late to return and
look for it. Tliat it had been taken possession of
by one of the women he was positive — they were
the sort who kept all they got, no matter how ob-
tained — and he was almost certain that this valua-
ble lump of gold had long ago vanished in some
melting crucible. So far as his connection with
The Rawhide Gold Mining Company was con-
cerned, and the many he had induced to buy stock,
it never troubled him one iota. There were so
many others like it, organized wherever gold was
mined or oil found, that were as specious, that one
more, or his own, only proved him to be in the
wide-spread game of swindling gullible investors
who deserved no pity since they only bought from
the belief that they were to receive fabulous returns.
He was not afraid to go to Oakdale, either, or to
meet Uncle Asa. He would have assured that con-
fiding " Rube," as he thought him to be. that Raw-
hide stock was all right, the mine being developed
slowly but surely, anf* that it sooner or later would
pay big dividend- He would, so conscienceless
was he, and possessed of so much brazen impudence,

■y,"tMi rmfviL^'

■'r'm-S- ilAMII

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

183

have set out to sell even Uncle Asa inore stock, also
others, only for one fact ; that for certain unfortunate
reasons he had decided to leave Rawhide in haste
and change his name. There was, also, one other
flaw besides whiskers in his defensive armor and
that the hastily adopted first name, Curtis, as the
last one of his alias. While keen and quick enough
when it came to swindling others, in this case his
occultism slipped a cog, so to speak, and left a dan-
generous similarity of name to anyone who had both
seen him and heard his original one often enough
to fix it in mind. He fancied himself secure, how-
ever, had ample means to live well, also carry out
any new scheme requiring some investment, and as
the prosperous capitalist he now practically pro-
claimed himself to be, was armed and equipped to
resent any insinuation to the contrary.

" Money will buy all things — lawyers, juries,
judges, the whole shooting match," he would say to
himself reassuringly when a little lurking fear of
retribution crept into his feelings, as it now and then
did. " Business is only a game of robbery, high or
low, and all around, from peanut stands to the
Standard Oil Tiust. I've got the price of self-
defense any time, there is no proof of anything
against me — not even that I was in the cabin the
night that stupid Swede fell downstairs and

l84

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

cracked his own skull — so the public, the whole
push, can go chase themselves for all I care."

He little thought Nemesis in the guise of his own
unscrupulous scheming was even now pursuing
him, with Stacy Whipple adding inspiration.

''il. 'lVi'.Ai> .,

CHAPTER XVI

THE one ruling ambition of Landlord Sam
Gates's life outside of providing for his
limited number of guests was to play prac-
tical jokes, and his keen Yankee shrewdness, knowl-
edge of human nature, and plausible speech served
him well at this rather invidious game. Of course
he had exhausted his possibilities of deceiving any
of Oakdale' residents long before Stacy was so
adroitly steered into Bear Hole Swamp, so new-
comers were all that Sam could vent his peculiar
talent upon. And so it came to pass that when
Uncle Levi drove up to Sam's hostelry one after-
noon just after supper time, and a dapper little dude
with much-waxed mustache, with cane and small
suit-case, alighted, Sam eyed him with much the
same feelings that a hawk would eye a brood of
young chickens. Business, however, came first
with Sam, so he at once proceeded to take care of
so well-dressed an arrival in his most urbane man-
ner, assigned and showed him to the best front room,
asked what he'd like cooked for supper, invited him
to take a nip while waiting for it, and as soon as Mr,
185

! riW.^-'ir'V?!

i86

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

l«!i

I M

Leon Otero had been relegated to the care of the
high priestess of the dining-room, Sam returned to
the iiiazza and the Old Guard there gatliercd to con-
sider matters generally.

" Who is lie ? " queried Bascom, usually the
spokesman of their retinue. " A drummer? "

" No-o," drawled Sam, " too slick-lookin', 'n' too
fussy. Wanted the shutters shut fust thing in his
room, 'n' a key for the door. Said he didn't like to
leave his things 'thout bein' locked up. He ain't no
drummer. They don't wax their mustaches 'n' look
like they come out o' a bandbox."

" Fisherman ? " hazarded Lazy Luke, who in-
variably guessed wrong. " You'll start him into
B'ar Hole if he is, I s'pose? "

" Mebbe," returned Sam with a half-smothered
chuckle at the thought of so alluring a prospect.
" That is if he's goin' to stay long 'nuff, 'n' kin be
persuaded."

And so it came to pass when the new arrival re-
turned to the piazza, sat down and lighted a ciga-
rette, there were five there, each ready to cooperate
to make his visit to Oakdale as pleasant as possible
— for themselves.

"Is this your first visit here, Mr. Otero?" in-
quired Sam politely by way of a beginning.

" It ees," answered Otero, looking around the

THE CASTLK BUILDERS

187

scattered village, " and a so mitch smaller town than
I haf heard."

" Sellin' goods, I s'liose," was the next remark
of the adroit Sam.

" No, I haf come on ze business of my company,
not to sell something." returned Otero evasively.

" Buyin' land mebbe," persisted Sam unabashed.
" I heerd some company was plannin' to put up a
big dam here, 'n' build a shop."

Then Mr. Leon Otero turned his snaky eves on
Sam and smiled wisely. " I am not to tell what my
company haf planned," he answered suavely, " I am
to look around."

" O' course ; sartin', sartin'," replied Sam sooth-
ingly, " only I heerd your company was goin' to buy
B'ar Hole Swamp, 'n' figgered you was here to do
it."

" Ees this swamp you call ze bear's hole ze right
spot for a dam?" inquired Otero with a satisfied
smile.

" None better," asserted Sam, unconsciously play-
ing Stacy's game. " In fact Natur just riz hills all
'round it ez ef on purpose fer a dam. That's what
the other feller who looked it over said, anvhow,
I s'pose he war from your company, too, eh ? His
na.ne was Whipple. You know about liini, I
s'pose? "

i88

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" I know him, yes," admitted Otero, smiling
again, "and I shall look ze swamp over myself.
Who is it owns ze land ? "

" Oh, it's Uncle Asa's, Asa Webster's, 'n' he lives
jist below it on the brook," vouchsafed Sam speed-
ily, " 'n' I cal'late Iie'd sell it cheap. 'Tain't wuth
much fer anything but a pond. You want to look
it over, foller the brook down through," he added
eagerly, " 'n' mebbe ketch a mess o' trout to-morrer,
eh ? I kin rig ye up 'n' take ye to the head on't in
the morniii' if ye like."

And having thus paved the way for his own pet
practical joke and almost pushed Otero into the trap
set for him by Stacy, Sam smiled with serene satis-
faction. To add more bait for his own trap also,
h» now began to extol the merits of Bear Hole
Brook as a trout stream, and to tell what big ones
were often caught in it, and how Mr. Otero would
probably enjoy a day of rare sport on the morrow.

"I liaf not fished for ze trout for many years,"
the victim declared next morning, when duly fitted
out with a pair of Sam's boots too big for him, and
a pair of Sam's trousers large enough to turn
around in, he was conveyed by that worthy to where
Bear Hole Brook crossed tlie highway above the
swamp. He still wore his own silk outing shirt,
jaunty tie, high collar and straw hat, however, and

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

189

with creel and rod of Sam's lending, it is needless to
say he presented a ludicrr- " appearance.

" You've got the greatest day's sport you ever had
ahead o' ye," Sam novv asserted, turning bi3 horse
an uiid, " 'n' 'bout four miles on't. You'll find a
/ rile brush o' course, but don't mind that. Thar's
whar ye'll find the biggest trout, too. I cal'late
you'll fill yer basket by noon 'n' then you want ter
keep right on. Poller the brook 'n' it'll fetch ye
right out by Uncle Asa's, n' then ye kin dicker with
him 'bout buyin' the bwamp fer a pond, if that's yer
errand here. I s'pose the other feller's kinder
paved the way fer the deal, mebbe? Uncle Asa's
got a darter, too, perty gal, she is, ez anywhere
about, 'n' ef ye 'iiake good time 'long the brook
she'll cook ye a mess o' trout fer dinner if ye' re
kinder slick at coaxin'. She's sweeter'n peaches 'n'
cream, too, she is, 'n' ain't got no beau." And
having thus baited and opened his own trap most
eflFectually, Sam drove away leaving Otero to his
fate.

Once well away and out of sight around a bend
in the road, however, Sam exploded in a burst of
laughter.

" Got him hooked good 'n' fast, I cal'late." he ex-
claimed, shaking with its continuation. " 'n' when
he gits down whar them Moliawk briars is tliickest

190

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

'n' black flics busy — wal, if he's got any cuss words,
thar'll be suthiii said."

Then, and still chuckling with suppressed laugh-
ter, he drove on.

It was seven A. M. of that hot July t morning,
when Mr. Leon Otero, half of him looriing the im-
maculate dude with legs in two bags, jointed his
rod, biitcd his hook, lit a cigarette, an(' plunged into
this almost impassable swainp. It was five P. M.
when that same occult schemer and wily villain
emerged from this morass, both boots left buried
in some slough hole, his bag-like paiits torn and
black with mud, his silk shirt in shreds, collar, tie,
and hat missing, and creel and rod left somewhep
in the swamp. One eye was closed from the stir
of a hornet, his face, neck, and hands black from
swamp mire or streaked with bloody scra*"hes, also
swollen from thousands of vicious black-fly bites,
and he was barely able to crawl. He had lost all
points of the compass after fo' nving the winding
stream a half-milL nd not dariiig to leave it, con-
scious of being turned around, had kept on, sure
that the only way of escaping the swamp alive was
to stick to the stream.

" I vas 'most dead, my God, sir ! ' he exclaimed,
finally emerging from the pit:e thicket and finding
Uncle Asa raking hay on a hill-side meadow. " Oh,

•Zk AWKII. TIMK AS SKVKIt Wf.'—Piiyc 191.

.S;,^Hi< i

rii'

'I'

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

191

I haf had ze one hell time to git out ze swamp, sir,"
he moaned, now sinking to earth, exhausted, " ze
awful time as never vas."

" Wal, ye look the part," ejaculated Uncle Asa,
eyeing him keenly and instantly conscious that this
dapper, woe-begone specimen of humanity was tlie
man he had been anxiously awaiting now for five
days. " Been through B'ar Hole Swamp, I cal'-
late," he added. " Who might ye be? "

" My name is Otero," Sam's victim responded
weakly, " and you vas ze man ze landlord call Uncle
Asa, vas you ? "

" Yaas, that's me," drawled Uncle Asa, now on
guard and beginning to rake hay again as if the
arrival of this fellow was of no interest. He kept
on raking, too, a few rods, and then Otero called to
him again.

" I am so tired I cannot walk back to ze hotel,"
he said meekly, " and I vill pay you if you vill take
me back. Vill you ? "

Then Uncle Asa halted his raking and looked
back at Otero hesitatingly. He knew his errand
here, knew also that Sam had sent him into Boar
Hole Swamp — his inevitable joke on all strangers
— but now, nervous as he was over what this fel-
low's errand meant to him, the joke lost its point.

" I dunno but I might," he admitted finally, now

,,(l

192

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

returning to where Otero sat. " It's hayin' titne,
'n' I'm perty busy, though."

" I vill pay you, sir," Otero responded still more
meekly, " pay you veil, only I can't valk no longer
now."

Then Uncle Asa, Good Samaritan still, in spite of
his abhorrence of this trickster, as he knew him to
be, invited him down to the house and gave him
opportunity to w jh his mud-blackened face and
hands, harnessed his horse, and conveyed him back
to the village.

" How much I do owe you ? " Otero queried
when they drew up at the hotel.

" Not a cent," Uncle Asa responded. " I jest
fetched ye back out o' pity fer a feller ez badly
busted ez you war."

" I am to come and see you to-morrow," Otero
responded, after thanking Uncle Asa. " It ees to
talk business."

"What business?" demanded Uncle Asa. "I
am too busy hayin' to talk much with anybody."

" Why, I vish to buy some land of you," returned
Otero meekly still. " Perhaps I buy ze tarn swamp
that so near killed me to-day."

" Wal, ye needn't come on that 'count," returned
Uncle Asa brusquely. " 'Taint fer sale or rather
thar's 'nother feller ez hez got a call on't." Then

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

193

having thus taken trick number one in the game of
diamond-cut-diamond, he halted his nag with an
out-turned wheel and awaited his passenger's
alighting.

" But I vill come to see you," reiterated Otero
after stepping out. And then, without a word of
response, Uncle Asa drove away fully conscious he
had his enemy at bay, at least.

" I'll give Sam a slap on the back fer playin' B'ar
Hole on that little cuss," he ejaculated when well
away from the hotel. "It sarved him right, the
hyena."

" Wal, whar's my basket 'n' boots 'n' fish pole? "
demanded Sam with well-simulated severity a mo-
ment later as Otero limped up the piazza. " Ye
look's though ye'd bin run through a threshin' ma-
chine 'n' chucked in a mud hole arter that. Did —
did ye ketch any trout? "

Then Leon Otero, the foppish little Iviexican,
conscious of his own ridiculous appearance, and
seeing from the broad grins low spreading over
Sam's and the Old Guard's faces that he had been
made the target of a practical joke, grew pale with
suppressed anger, while his snaky eyes glittered.

" Sacre, what you t'ink, I one tam fool to be sport
for you ? I — I could kill you ! " he snarled. Then
vanished inside and up to his room.

194

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

He appeared a half hour later (most of which
had been spent by Sam in suppressing his laughter),
looking more presentable, also in better temper.
And then Sam, having enjoyed his joke thoroughly,
set about mollifying his guest.

" I was afeared you mightn't bring back much of
a string," he said sootningly and suppressing his
inward laughter, " so I sent one o' the boys out to
ketch some, 'n' I've got a nice mess cooked fer ye.
A joke's a joke, so come into the barroom 'n' hev a
drink on me, 'n' call it square. I won't charge ye
nothin' fer the boots 'n' fishin' tackle ye left in the
swamp. How'd ye come to lose 'em?" Then,
and unable to restrain his merriment longer, he
burst into laughter again.

" B'ar Hole is a perty tufif spot," he added a mo-
ment later, setting an array of bottles out upon the
bar counter, " 'n' we alius interduce it ez one o' the
pints o' int'rest here to newcomers. I did to your
partner — I s'pose — the otlier feller who come to
look things over, 'n' he come out head up ; worrit
some but smilin'." Then, having thus established
peace and ushered his guest into the dining-room,
he returned to the piazza.

" That little cuss takes a joke 'bout ez a boy does
pepper tea," he now asserted to the Old Guard
awaiting him, and laughing again. " I'm out a pair

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

I9S

o' boots 'n' fishin' tackle, but 'twas wuth it, by
gosh," and he shook with another spasm of laugh-
ter. " I'd a gin a fiver on top o' the boots to 'a'
seen him 'bout the time he got out," he added, " 'n'
to 'a' heard him cuss. I cal'Iate them little Spanish
fellers kin cuss some when they git started, too."

Mr. Leon Otero did not favor Sam and the Old
Guard with much of his company that evening,
however, for though mollified by the drink, and
excellent supper of fried trout and strawberries, his
pride had received a painful wound and he nursed it
in his room with continuous cigarettes. He was,
however, sure that this hill-bordered swamp he had
flcundered through was the dam site Bemis, Colby
& Company wanted, that a minimum offer for it
had been made to the farmer who owned it, and
that he was in ample time to obtain possession, and
make them pay smartly later on.

The one fortuitous feature of this game was that
the stage driver, accepting Stacy's hints as facts,
had talked of nothing else except the plan to buy
Bear Hole Swamp by someone; Sam, an.xious to
play his joke, had forgotten to mention Rocky Glen
brook, so Otero had no knowledge of its existence.
The next morning, well-garbed and serene once
more, he started for Uncle Asa's.

fi; •

CHAPTER XVII

WIILE Uncle Asa had feared himself un-
able to cope with this emissary of that
arch-swindler, Curtis North, his first
meeting with him, so mud-splashed and woe-begone
from an all-day contest with Bear Hole Swamp, had
assured him he was only an ordinary mortal, an
unscrupulous thief no doubt, yet not one to be
ffared in the open, or in a contest of bargain-
making. Uncle Asa's over-night preparation also
stood him in hand, so he resolved and felt that he
could be, as he would put it, " independent as a pig
on ice."

He trusted Stacy, too, especially after what had
passed between them, trusted his good sense and
judgment also, and felt that his measure of this
Curtis North and what his tool, Otero, would say
and do, also pay for Bear Hole Swamp, was an
accurate one. And so it came to pass that July
morning when he, swinging his scythe in a meadow
below the house and alongside the lane, saw Otero
turn into it, leap the fence and advance to him,
196

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 197

Uncle Asa was well prepared for the bargain-
driving contest now at hand.

He halted his scythe-swinging a- Otero neared
him, looked up, nodded, said " Good mornin' " in
chilly tone, and awaited developments.

"I haf come to see you as I said I vould, Mr.
Vebster," Otero asserted after his return "Good
morning " and obsequious bow, " and to make vith
you a price on zat swamp you call ze bear's hole
if you vill sell it."

" Want to live thar, do ye? " returned Uncle Asa,
grinning, as he thrust the end of the snath into the
soil and leaned upon his scythe. "I should a
thought ye'd got 'nuff o' that tangle-hole yisterday ;
ye looked like it anyhow."

"Oh, I did, it ees a tam hole," asserted Otero
with a shrug. " An' ze flies, ze brambles, an' ze
mud eat me up."

" 'N' ye want to buy it, eh ? " grunterf Uncle Asa
half scornfully. " Yew can't be right in your attic,
yew want a keeper put over ye, yew do ! "

"But I vill buy it if you make ze price low, it
ees of no value I vas sure, a tam mud hole."

"Wuss'n that," grinned Uncle Asa. "Thar's
snakes in it, too, red adders 'n' rattlers, hundreds
on 'em. I can't see how ye missed gittin' bit, must

198

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

m
m

be they didn't like the loolcs o' ye ; snakes air kinder
p'ticular, though, sometimes."

" An' you t'ink zey no bite me for zat reason? "
responded Otero, trying to smile while his eyes
snapped.

" I didn't say so," drawled Uncle Asa, " only
snakes is perty cunnin' critters, 'n' 1 never knowed
o' their bitin' one 'nother."

For a long moment the glint in Otero's eyes de-
noted anger at this sarcasm, then he conquered it.
" Vill you set a price on ze swamp an' woods be-
low?" he isked almost haughtily. "I haf come
here to buy it."

" Wal, then ye kin hike right away on the next
train," returned Uncle Asa sharply, " fer 'tain't fer
sale, not a foot on't, not even a snake."

" But you vill sell it at some price, von't you? "
queried Otero, anxiously.

" Wal, yaas, I'll take a million dollars fer't,"
drawled Uncle Asa, grasping his scythe again.
" Fetch me that in real money, 'n' I'll talk with ye.
I hain't time now."

Then Otero experienced a sense of being thrown
against a brick wall, for he had not planned on any
such reception. He was also smarting from Uncle
Asa's sarcastic shots about snakes, and, all in all,
was decidedly nonplussed and rapidly gettin.'- - 'gry.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 199

And when a bargain-driving man so loses himself,
he is gone.

" I haf come to buy zat swamp at a fair price,"
tliis one now reiterated crustily, " an' I viU gif you
five t'ousand dollars for it all, an' ze wood land
below, all of it."

" 'N' I'll take forty thousand, 'n' throw in the
snakes," returned Uncle Asa as sharply, " so put that
in yer pipe 'n' smoke it. I hain't time to swap guflf
with ye. I've got mowin' ter do," and Uncle Asa
began to 3wing his scythe again.

Tlien Otero, exasperated by this farmer's sar-
casms and discomfited by his blunt refusals to con-
sider wliat he thought an exorbitant price for the
swamp, began to take counsel with himself, sure
also that a much higher bid than his had been made
by the other parties, or else the swamp actually
bought by them. But he had come with positive
orders frotn his backer to buy, had brought ten
thousand dollars in large bills with him, and the
" Old Rube," as he thought Uncle Asa to be, who
held the key to this game of extortion, was now
two rods away, and swinging his scythe as if his
customer were of no more account than a snake
in this horrible swamp. And the more Otero, the
vain fop and sliarper combined, dwelt on Uncle
Asa's insolent references to snakes, the more ano-rv

30O

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

he grew. But he was wise enough to conceal it
now.

" I vill make you one more offer," he said, now
following after Uncle Asa, " I gif you six t'ou-
sand for ze swamp."

" Nary six fer me, nothin' doin'," returned Uncle
Asa exasperatingly, as he kept on mowing.

"I vill make it seven thtn? "

" Nix," with a shake of the head.

"I vill say eight then. Vill you take that?"

" No, I won't," snapped Uncle Asa, now halting
and facing around, sure he had the game won.

" Vill you name a price you vill take ? " came
from Otero, almost desperate now. " Some price
in reason? "

Then Uncle Asa glanced up and down the five-
foot or a trifle more of snake-eyed, wax-mustached
fop before him contemptuously. " Ef you 11
promise never to set foot in this 'ere town agin,"
he drawled slowly, " I'll set a price fer the swamp
'n' wood lot below it, cash down, real money, no
checks, 'n' ef ye don't take it right off the spot, I'll
run ye off my land 'fore ye kin say boo! I won't
dicker with ye a minute! "

"Veil, vat is it?" came from Otero, while his
eyes glittered at the insult.

" It's nine thousand five hundred, and not a dern

Stti^H^yHHfSSE.' ' **'

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

301

n say yes now

cent less," came from Uncle Asa,
or git ! "

"I vill gif it when you hand me ze deed re-
corded," snarled Otero.

"I'll meet ye at Squire Phinne>'s in jist two
hours all ready," admitted Uncle Asa, then turned
and swung his scythe again as if this bargain was
no more to him than the sale of a load of hay.

And Otero, the dapper little dude and snake in
the grass, turned and left him, feeling himself to be
about what he was, though angry all over.
Through all his various and very crooked career
so far, he had never been so humiliated or insulted
as now, and the very recent trick of Sam's was a
part of the combined outrage.

When once well out of sight. Uncle Asa, who had
covertly watched Otero depart, now threw his scythe
aside, and made a bee-line for the house.

Someone else, no less a person than Hazel, had
also been watching this imerview from an ambush,
and met him as he leaped over the lane fence.

" What is that little puppy back here again for? "
she demanded anxiously. " for I know it's the same
chap you took up to the village yesterdav. OIi,
father, there is some trick being played on you I
am sure ! "

Then Uncle Asa gave the much-worried Hazel

aoa

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

another cxiiibitioii of emotional insanity, for he
grasped licr and threw her up on his slioulders,
gave a hop, skip, and jump, tlien lowered the
struggling form, kissed her face hit or miss four
times, and set her down.

" Kingdom's 'most come," he almost shouted.
" Don't say a word to Martha. Keep mum. I'm
goin' to the village, 'n' want ye to meet me half way
thar jist two hours from now on the sly, 'n' keep
whist all the time." Tlien he hurried into the
house, up to his room, inilockcd an ancient oak
chest, found the original deed of the Bear Hole
Swamp land, put on a clean shirt, and hastened
away to the village. He set the squire at work
fdling out a deed to Mr. Leon Otero, residence
blank, sutnmoned Sam for witness to iiis > .'n sig-
nature (forgetting th.it his wife must also sign with
him), made both Sam and Squire Phinney swear to
inviolate secrecy regarding this important act, and
by the time Otero apjiearcd a half-hour later, the
deed that was to play ;-.o peculiar and far-reaching
a part in Oakdale's history, also of the heart annals
of Miss Hazel Wcljster, was ready for him. And
so anxious was he, apparently, to get the business
consummated and depart, the wily Otero never no-
ticed tliat Mrs. Asa Webster's signature was missing.
The nionev, all in fiflv and one hundred dollar

THE CASTL,; BUlLDL'kS

203

bills, was counted both by the Squire and Uncle
Asa: as a matter of ordinary pohtcticss they all
shook Iiauds witli Otero, and he hastened across the
street to the hotel.

And this brief but exciting visit to Oakdale was
the first and last one ever made by him 1

" 1 (e's got Uncle Levi to take him up to tlie
noon train west," Sam stated after Otero li;id left
the Squire's office. " The little cuss don't jist like
our sort o' folks, I cal'late."

" Nor B'ar Hole Swamp either I guess," added
Uncle Asa. " He war the wust busted pup I ever
seen when he fetched out on't yesterday, tlianks to
you, Sam."

" Wal, the feller was puttin' on too many airs,
'n' lookin' too slick to suit me," returned Sam, " so
I jist thought I'd gin him the Entered Apprentice
degree, 'n' take him down a trifTul. liut what the
devil docs he want o' P.'ar Hole Swamp, 'n' liow'd
ye make liim pay sich an ungodly price. Uncle Asa ?
'Twas 'most highway robbery ! "

Then Uncle Asa looked at Sam while a broad
grin spread over his face.

" Thar's a woodchuck in the haymow, Sam." he
said slowly, " 'n' I've got liolt o' his hind leg.
Thar's suthin else I got holt on, Sam," he continued,
smiling even m.ore. " Jist vou ''o over 'n' fotch m?

204

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

that sartificate o' mining stock you've got framed
'11' I'll gin ye zackly five hundred for't now"

" No, I won't, Uncle Asa," Sara answered
bluntly, " fer it looks like the mine's struck it rich
'n' I'll keep the stock."

" All ofif, nothin' doin' then," returned Uncle Asa,
laughing heartily. " Oflfer's only good this minute,
not to-morrer."

Much more of this cheerful badinage was ex-
changed between these three old cronies, then after
waiting until he saw Otero depart so that he couldn't
be waylaid by him when homeward bound. Uncle
Asa left the village. Half way home, and as he ex-
pected, he found Hazel awaiting him beneath a
roadside apple tree.

"Hooray, girlie, hooray, hooray!" he shouted,
now running up and enclosing her in his arms.
" Kingdom's come, 'n' I've got the mont-y ! It's
yours, every cent on't, nine thousand dollars, 'n' it's
goin' into the Rarre bank to-morrow, hooray!
Come kiss your old fool dad jist once now! "

Then and after this unique exhibition of feeling,
he drew the roll of bills from beneath his shirt,
handed it to Hazel, choked, bit his lips, turned away,
and two tears stole down his wrinkled face.

"I'm a derned old fool, ain't I. Hazel?" he
added, now laughing again. " But I was 'nufT fer

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

205

(hat litlle wen":! '^iit larkled me this mornin', 'n'
— 'n' tlie mar. iliiit seM y:y. the books 'n' you've
been skcered o riii'Iongpii up the job to save your
money by scllin i) ai lio'^; Swamp to that little rat
you vvfatched with me. Thar now, will ye b'lieve
he's wuth trustin', or won't ye?"

" I'll believe anything to see you so happy,
father," came from Hazel, embracing and kissing
him again. Then she, too, began to laugh with wet
eyes.

And now the feminine sex asserted itself.

" Is — is that Mr. Whipple coming to Oakdale
soon, do you know, father ? "

" I dunno's he'll ever come agin," answered her
father vaguely. " If I'd ben treated by a gal ez you
did him I wouldn't chase her 'nother rod. I don't
much think you'll ever set eyes on him agin."

" Then what you said about his admiring me must
be all nonsense," the keen-witted girl returned, " or
else he will come again. Any man worth thinking
twice about can't be choked off by one rebuff. And
I didn't repulse him: was just cool, that's all."

" Wuss'n that, jist turned your back on him that
day down to the shore 'n' let him whistle fer com-
pany while ye gals cut sticks," asserted her father,
smiling at his well beloved and only child. " I
watched ye from out pullin' pots. But I ain't wor-

>j.

■i

206

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

ryin' 'bout him a minute," he added after a pause.
" That feller don't need no keeper over him ez you
thought I did. His head's level, you kin bet, 'n' he
ain't a mite skeered o' little gal like yew, he ain't.
'N' now, Hazel, let's set down 'n' count that roll o'
money, you 'n' L I want the comfort of fingerin'
Kingdom Come jist once more, slow 'n' easy."

Then down under the apple tree he squatted with
Hazel beside him to enjoy what he never had before
in his life, and never expected to enjoy again — the
counting of so tnuch money all by hiinself, slowly,
and to enjoy the sensation.

" I lliink I did a perty slick trick to make that
snaky little Mexican gin up so much," he asserted
after the counting, " 'n' I tucked on five hundred
jist to square Sam for his mine stock. Also as pay
for sencliu' this chap into the swamp ez Sam did.
It tuckered the cuss out, 'n' gin me the nicest sort
o' chance to sass him. 'n' I did, too! Hain't had so
much fun since I had the measles." And Uncle
Asa laughed again in boyish enjoyment of his meet-
ing with and getting the better of Otero.

" Mr. Wliipple put the job up," he continued
after this. "War doin' it the day that popinjay
friend o' yours from Barre saw him, when he come
here agin, and chased me down to the shore, 'n'

m.'Smtir'jw^i^^irmK<3Km

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 207

'splaincd ji?t how this Otero ud show up, 'n' how
to tackle him.

" 'N' now," he added, watching Hazel's face
sharply, " Mr. W'liipplc's gone out West whar In-
juns is thicker'n flies in Bar Hole Swamp, 'n' most
likely he'll get scalped. I don't s'pose you care
though."

Then Hazel glanced at her father's impassive face
while a new sensation tingled in her feelings, for
she read his thoughts like an open book.

" I am sorry I mistrusted him," she answered de-
murely. " I will tell him so, too, when he comes
again, and — and I understand you hope he will
ask me to marry him, father? "

" Not less you like him 'nuff to go barefoot if
he asks y , sjirlie," returned her father soberly.
"Gittin' r, is the whole o' your life, Hazel,

'n' till one ^r t'other is laid away, 'n' ye must go
keerful. mighty keerful, I tell ye. I hke Mr.
Whipple. I did the fust go off, 'n' he's proved him-
self sijuare's a brick. It's up to you, though,
whether you like him or not. All I kin tell ye is lie
said he'd walk a good many miles jist to win one o'
your smiles, 'n' said it outcn his heart, too."

Then Hazel grew rose-red again for somehow
this man's eyes had haunted her for many days.

Ill

■-^'•i-*''*-. *<S«/'

irnr^

208

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" I ain't goin' to worry a mite 'bout you two,"
Uncle Asa continued, smiling at the telltale color
on Hazel's face. " Only jist 'bout this money now.
It'll stay next to my skin till I git to Barre to-
morrow, 'n' then it goes into the bank in your
name. I'd go to-night, oily the bank's closed when
I git thar. I don't think I'll sleep a wink till it's
in the bank, though. Now, let's go home."

Once there, and acting nervously, as he now did,
it was not long ere Martha's suspicions were aroused
by both his and Hazel's peculiar conduct and she
began to question first Hazel, then Hazel's tather.
From the former she obtained no satisfaction, liow-
ever, as might be expected, and not until evening
was any obtained from Uncle Asa.

" You are keeping something froni me, Asa," she
demanded of him rather tartly when the chance
came and Hazei away, "and now I mean to know
what it is! What was that little man here for
this morning, and why did you change your siiirt
'n' hurry up to the village right after him, I want
to know? And Hazel, too, after you, 'n' gone
'most tlvee hours! What have you been doing?
T'-e a right to know, 'n' I want to know now ! "

Tiien Uncle Asa looked a;: his much-disliked bet-
ter half, calmly and serenely.

" I had business with that man," he explained

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 209

slowly, " 'n' went up town to git paid some money
he owed me. that's all."

"How much?" demanded Martha in rasping
voice.

"Oh, a few thousand dollars," answered Uncle
Asa, a queer suspicion flashing into his mind.
" Why do ye want to know, Martha ? "

" And you've got it with ye ? "

" Sartin, 'n' mean to keep it with me, too, till
I go to Barre to-morrow."

"No, ;-3u won't, Asa Webster," replied his
spouse viciously, "nothing of the sort! Some-
body '11 break into the house 'n' rob you to-night if
you do! "

"What'Il I do with it then?" returned Uncle
Asa, calmly scanning her face.

"Why, hide it, of course, where I hide money
when we leave the house — under that loose brick
in the front-room fireplace," almost commanded
Martha, " then it'll be safe."

And then the sinister suspicion in Uncle Asa's
mind became almost a certainty.

" I'll do it, Martha," he answered meekly, " do
it jist to please ye, the last thing 'fore I go to bed.
It'll be safe 'nuff on me till then, I cal'late."

And that evening, sitting along on the embowered
front porch and smoking his cob pipe, as was his

210

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

—•Hi: 1'

custom summer evenings, back to him came tiie
evil lool< that he had detected in Manila's eyes wrhen
admitting he had so large a sum of money. He
also recalled her miserly ways during tlie few years
of their life together, her reputation previously, how
every dollar given her by him or taken in from sale
of eggs, poultry, or anything, vanished like water in
sand and nothing to show for it ; how their table
was scrimped to the most meager of food. Hazel's
board payments also disappearing the same way,
and many other suspicious occurrences.

" I don't like that sharky look," he muttered
softly to himself now. " Thar's suthin brewin',
that's sartin! You're cal'latin' to git holt o' that
money, Martha Baker!" So disturbing was this
suspicion, he arose suddenly and started down the
lane. At its foot and out of sight from his house,
he halted and glanced up at the starlit sky.

" Curis, curis," he said to himself again, " how
the love o' moiiey'll make thieves 'n' lunatics, 'most,
out o' folks. I hate to b'lieve it o' you, Martlia, but
you're plannin' to steal, my God, you be, 'n' it's
the end o' you 'n' I! The end, the end! Mebbe
it's better so, too, fcr Hazel! It's been hell for her
all 'long, 'n' I slia'n't miss ye, not a minute ! "

Then, overwrought with the shameful horror
of what he now believed, a cold sweat moistened his

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

face and hands; he started rapidly across the
meadow to his boatliouse, lit a small lamp he kept
there, cut a few dozen strips of brown paper the size
of bills, roiled them up, put a ten-dollar one on the
outside, tied the roll with a bit of fish line, and re-
turned to the lane.

At its foot, and much to his joy, he met Hazel.

" Thank God ye come out, girlie," he whispered
with trembling voice and grasping her arm. " I
war so wantin' to see ye 'lone."

"Why, what is it, father?" she asked in quiv-
ering tones. " What has happened ? "

" Suthin horrible," he whispered back, " but I've
got to b'lieve it, 'n' prove it too! Martha wants me
to hide that money in the front-room fireplace 'n'
to-night — sometime — she's goin' to steal it.
Now don't say .1 word ! I've got a roll o" paper 'n'
bill outside fixed up ; I'm goin' to hide it under the
loose brick she wants me to. Jist you come to
my room in your stockiu's arter she's gone to bed,
'n' wait 'n' listen with me. When she thinks I'm
asleep, she'll go down the back stairs, I ligger —
they're furtherest away from my room — 'n' then
you 'n' I'll come to the top o' the front ones 'n'
listen. All I want is proof she's become a thief, 'n'
that's the end o' her 'n' I."

Then, without a word of reply to tin's shame-

^^1

313

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

ful but probable supposition, Ila/el wound her arms
around her father's neck and kissed him. They
were as one now in wish, spirit, and mutual humilia-
tion.

She kept hold of his hand, too, as they walked
up the lane and found Martha on the porch await-
ing them.

" Whar you ben ? " she almost demanded as
Uncle .\sa came first up the steps.

" I've ben worryin' 'bout what you said 'bout that
money," he answered calmly, " 'n' took a walk to
look 'round. I guess I'd b'jst do ez you say, 'n' hide
it in the fireplace. It's gittin' 'most bedtime, 'n' I'll
do it now." And without more words he went in-
side.

Martha also followed him in, watched him put
the bogus roll of money under the loose brick, re-
turn the firedogs into place again, and pile the
white birch wood upon them as before.

And so another trap was set — this time to catch
one whose detection was to cost more in shame an;'
humiliation than all the money meant to Uncle Asa.

He locked the door as Hazel came in, drew a
heavy settle in front of it, saw that the windows
were fastened, went out and locked the two kitchen
doors, then the three ascended the front stairs in

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 213

Indian file and separated with the usual " Good-
nights."

An hour later, in loose wrapper and stockinged
feet, Hazel tiptoed softly into her father's room,
closed the ooor to a quarter-inch crack, and sat
down beside it listening.

This expected denouement or exposure meant
more to her than to her father !

One hour, two hours, seemingly, passed to that
listening, also keenly humiliated father and
daughter, then Hazel's acute young ears caught the
faint creak of an opened door, one, two, three les-
-ser ones from the back stairs, and then only the
slow solemn " tick, tock " of the tall clock in the
parlor below.

And never afterwards in her life did she listen
to that slow-beating monitor of time in the stilly
m'ght without recalling this crucial moment !

Five minute.',, each a seeming hour long, passed,
then up from the parlor came a faint pat as the
sticks of wood in the fireplace were taken out and
laid down. Then Hazel arose and beckoned to her
father, barely visible by the window. He shook
his head, however, then motioned her to go out
alone.

Very gently now Hazel drew the door open,

214

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

like a cat she crept to the carpeted front stairs, down
them to tlie open parlor door, and there, barely
outlined hy the star li(,'ht, she saw Martha kneeling
in front of the fireplace!

She next saw her lift the loose brick, seize the
roll of money-covered paper, and begin the re-
turning of the white birch sticks to place on the
firedogs.

Then Hazel, thus convinced that her hated step-
mother was a thief, with every nerve in her body
quivering from the horror of it and all it meant,
crept hack to her father', room, whispered, " I saw
hei t . • it," kissed him, and then, overcome b;- the
strain of this tragedy, she sank to the floor at his
feet — solibing.

Up from the hall below and now sounding to
Uncle Asa like " Nevermore — nevermore — never-
more," came the slow, solemn clock beats.

And so it was to his life with the now despicable
Martha, for he never saw her again.

SlIK HAW MaKTIIA KNKKMNO IN FRONT HF THK FlKKl'l.AL K.

Pt^v 214.

PST':]

CHAPTER XVIII

1AHK gray Iif;lit of coming morn wvns at hand
when Haztl felt herself wakened hy her
father's touch, and saw him dressed in his
best, with hat on and boots in hand, beside her
bed.

" Here's a paper to give to Martha when she gits
up," he whispered, liaii<ling it to her as slie rose
up. " I'm goin to Bar' ■ now. I'll git bacls by
middle o' the arternoon 'n go to my boathouse. Ef
Martha's here, then yew be thar by three o'clock.
Kf you ain't, I'll know she's gone, 'n' come ir> the
house. You kin read the paper arter I'm f: ne."
Then he stooped, kis.sed Hazel's forehead, and with-
'Mit another word tiptoed out and down the .stairs.

\nd Hazel, watching, saw him go to the barn,
emerge with the harnessed horse, attach him to
their light buggy, put a gun in, and drive away.
Then she read the note she held. It was brief and
to the point like all of Uncle Asa's utterances, and
said : —

" Martha, you and I can't Vwe under the .s.qme

^1^-

2l6

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

roof no longer. You can go to your sister's in
Goshen or where you choose. I shall have the
farm apprized and send you one-third of that. If
this don't satisfy you, take the law on me. Asa
Webster."

Hazel, too, had her own sense of pride and as all
the years while this woman had been hateful to her
now returned to add abhorrence of this act of theft,
as her father would say, " her dander riz," and with
it a determination to mete out a little vengeance on
personal account.

No one else was astir in the house as yet, and
whether Martha had discovered how she had been
trapped was also unknown to Hazel. Neither did
she care. The intended theft had been committed,
and its criminality and despicable meanness was just
as great in Hazel's mind as if all the money had
been stolen.

Only for a few moments did Hazel now con-
sider how she could best humiliate this shameless
woman, then wrote on a slip of paper: —

iU\\^',

" I hope I shall never be obliged to set eyes on
you again. You can take your two boys and all
personal things belonging to you, and the sooner
you go the better. You can also explain why you

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 317

go in any way you please. I don't expect you will
tell the truth. If you do not leave town before
noon I believe father will have you arrested. I saw
you steal the money. Hazel."

Then Hazel dressed, pinned the two notes to-
gether, locked the door of her own room, left the
double message on the dining-room table where
Martha must surely find it, and stole out of the
house just as the sun peeped over the hilltops.

It had been a night and an experience so abhor-
rent and so humiliating that it seemed as if she had
grown years older during that ten hours' lapse of
time.

Once well away from the house, or at the foot
of the lane she paused to consider what to do next,
and just now, also, it seemed as if a great load had
been lifted from her soul. Here, too, and for the
first time since awakened by her father, she began
to realize that it was morning, that the brook close
by was chattering away as usual, the birds piping
their morning welcome to the rising sun from all
about, and quite unconscious of the horrible hap-
pening. A crisp sea breeze blow up from the salt
marsh. A bobolink rose from a thicket of ferns
just across the main road, circled around, then lit
on the tip of a tree limb and began its wondrously

1:^

2l8

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

sweet song. Nature was still existent. God still
ruled the Universe!

With this impress of morning and the birth of a
new day, Hazel's spirits began to catch the bobolink's
note, and she to see anotlier and brighter future just
ahead with the deep and abiding love of her father
to bless it. Then, too, as she now started on up the
road, she began to grow thankful that he was to
escape the cross he had asked her to help him bear.
She still had him as he had her, and now their life
together could be like the song of the brook and the
birds once more.

With this rising of her spirits and vision of
another and happier life, Stacy's face began to
emerge from forgetfulness, and the part he had
played in this drama to recur to htr. It had all
come so suddenly, too; this strange, dapper little
fellow's appearance and meeting with her father;
the hilarious conduct over some bargain, the rea-
son for which she knew not ; his visit to the village
and return with so great a sum of money, all ob-
tained through some mysterious influence or aid
from Stacy. And then the end of that night of sus-
pense I

And now, too, her own conduct and distrust of
Stacy, also lack of faith in her father's opinion

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

219

of him, returned to her. And what was the mean-
ing of his sudden and unusual interest in her father?
Was it but a means to an end, and her good will,
her favor, and herself eventually; or that end an
ultimatum? For tliis busy business man so to plot
and plan to assist her father from pure philanthropy
seemed almost impossible, and from what her father
had asserted that this bold fellow had said and
thought of her, there could be but one conclusion,
which was that she was the magnet that had drawn
his aid and interest.

And then what meant the boolts and music sent
her without even his card?

And just now, with the pulse of young life within
her, and sure that this imperious young man meant
to win her if he could, meant to say to her " I want
}ou, body and soul," Hazel began to feel herself
blush, while every nerve tingled.

Then a sense of rebellion at all this encom-
passing of plot and plan to win her favor, now
followed. She was not for sale! No favors
shown her father or aid to him could avail in
this capture of herself, if captured she was!
Though loving her fatlier devotedly and ready to
make any s.icrifice for him, she was still mistress of
her own fate and future, and no assertive and bold

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

. i

t
i i

fellow like this Stacy need imagine favors to her
father could win one iota of love from her! Not
even an extra heart throb !

By this time, she was half way to the village,
and here on the very hillock where Stacy had
stood and scanned that hamlet and the opening val-
ley and vista of ocean beyond, while building his air
castle of a future city, Hazel now paused to con-
sider her own immediate plans ; also to realize that
she was hungry. To go on to Molly Bascom's and
be welcomed to breakfast there was the easiest thing
possible, but what excuse was there for it, and how
could she explain so unusual an act? Some expla-
nation of what was to happen at home must be
made to her friends in the near future, yet Hazel
dared not decide upon one without consulting her
father.

" I've run away from home, Molly," she said
laughingly to that chum when her home was
reached. " Had a spat with Martha — you know
how I adore her — and so ran away for a few
hours. Don't ask me a word about it ! I just want
breakfast, tlien I'm going to walk my mad fit off,
and go home again ! "

And true to the schoolmate bond of friendship be-
tween these two, Hazel obtained her needed morn-
ing meal, passed a couple of hours with the

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

vivacious Molly, and then departed to walk off her
supposed anger.

" I hope father will be willing to have the truth
told," she said to herself, when well away from the
Bascotn home, " and yet perhaps it's best not to do
so.

And now how to pass this tiitie until her father's
return came next for consideration. It was now
only a little past eight. She knew that he could not
itave Barre until after the bank opened at nine. It
would take him certainly three hours with their
slow horse over the hilly road, and that meant noon
before he got back. Then, after deciding that she
would follow the Barre road and meet her father.
Hazel happened to recall what Stacy had told her
of the picture of herself on the blackboard of
her schoolhouse, and straightway decided she had
ample time to go and expunge it ; also make a guess
as to what boy was so enamored of her.

She found the rude drawing still extant where
Stacy had said it was, and even as he had done,
so she now sat down, looked long at it, read the
legend beneath, " My teacher, I love her," then
laughed heartily.

" He said it reminded him of his own boyhood
and a dose of the same first love malady," she now
said aloud, and then, true to her sex, began to

III

:'!.'-§, ,!'■

222 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

wonder what sort of looking girl this teacher was
who had captured Stacy's boyish heart, and whether
he had fully recovered from it or not.

" It's Schuyler Crowell," she added, now examin-
ing the scrawled words beneath the picture. "I
know his ' M ' and ' I ' beyond question," then shook
with another spasm of laughter at the thought of
this round-faced, chubby boy of fourteen having
heart troubles of this nature. She tried also to re-
call some indications of it in his conduct the previ-
ous term, and now in the light of this revelation a
few recurred to her. How quietly studious he had
appeared the latter part of it How on three Mon-
day mornings she had found a bunch of arbutus on
her desk, and wishing to thank the giver of the
flowers she so prized, was unable to find out who
brought them. Then, and as a final corroboration,
she recalled how apparently sorry to have school
close Schuyler appeared, and instead of trooping
down with the rest at final dismissal, how he had
hung around the schoolhouse until she departed
and then gone his way alone. No thought of this
peculiar influence had come to her then — now with
this disclosure it was plain enough; and scanning
the grotesque drawing once more and thinking ho«-
this quiet, timid boy had come here to ease his

■>. il

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

223

troubled heart in this way, instead of laughing
again, somehow it almost ^eemcd pathetic.

A little retrospection of her own life -and its sor-
rows came next : her mother's death eleven years
previous, her almost unbearable sense of loss then,
her father's tears and gloom, his well-meant, per-
haps, but unfortunate bringing of a stepmother to
their desolate home, and its unhappy outcome.
That was past now, even though its ending had
come through a shameful horror, and she was never
likely again to look upon this woman she had come
so to despise.

And just then, as if to prove that all shame, sor-
row, and disgrace is but an avenging Nemesis, she
heard a team nearing the schoolhouse and going to
the window saw Uncle Levi's carryall, and in it
Martha and the two boys, evidently being conveyed
to the depot, and Martha's eyes were red and
swollen from weeping.

On this instant, also, a quick pang of regret for
the sarcastic and quite contemptuous note she had
addressed to this woman, came to Hazel. It
couldn't be recalled, however. The blow had been
dealt to this erring woman whose worst sin was so
to love money that she would steal it. And this
was the end.

It'

■M

224 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And just now, also, as the carryall and the de-
jected and bowed-down face of Martha vanished.
Hazel felt her own eyes fill.

" She made me hate her," she asserted finally in
self-defense, "but"— and biting her lips— "I am
sorry I wrote the note. Father's was enough."

A lit!'- longer only she sat there in that lone by-
way temple -her own kingdom by the roadside
— then glancing at her watch (once her mother's),
she saw it was almost eleven, and, forgetting to
erase her boy admirer's chalk drawing, she hu 'ried
out, then crossed the village and took the woods-
bordered road up over the low mountains to Barre.
She did not now feel afraid of its isolation, or
the fact that after leaving Oakdale valley not a
house was to be found alongside it until five miles
away, and on top of the range stood a charcoal
burner's hut; for like all country-born girls, byway
roads, woods-bordered, held no terrors — not even
of tramps, for few ever came to this hamlet. One
mile, two miles she trudged onward along this wind-
mg, up-hill, partially shaded and quite lonely road ■
then coming to a kind of canyon with thick over-
hang where a hillside spring, long trough, and log
tub ofifered cooling temptation, she paused to drink
and bathe her face and hands, then to find an avail-
able seat, and to rest:

W'^^tfT^^',

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" Father must come along soon," she said, con-
sulting her watch again. " It's almost one, and if
he started back by half-past nine, he will."

But another hour passed and no father came.
Then, so peculiar is solitude that Hazel, a good deal
unstrung by loss of sleep, shame, sorrow, regret, and
other unusual happenings, began to lose her courage
and imagine all sorts of terrors. First, what if
something had happened to her father? She had
seen him take his gun, so he must have feared some
enemy might be met. And such a sum of money,
too, that he carried — nine thousand, five hundred
dollars ! Almost enough to tempt an honest man to
rob, she thought. And what about this Mexican,
Otero? And why mightn't he have suspected how
soon and by which way her father would go to put
so much money in a bank, and plan to meet and
rob him?

The bugaboo of imaginary danger once started
grows fast, and Hazel now, nervous as she was,
waiting, watching, listening for a coming team and
hearing none, soon attained a state of mind in
which she was ready to scream at the sound of a
squirrel scampering through the undergrowth, or
the whir of a partridge. Go on, she dared not!
Return, she would not as yet. so sat in dumb and
rapidly-increasing distress of mind.

mw i:*

226

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And what a medley of horrible sounds the woods
now held I A frog croaking in some morass, or a
squirrel's bark became a hidden human being of
evil intent, calling to another. The caw of a crow
was sinister! Even the rustle of leaves in the wind
sounded ominous! Another half-hour passed, and
poor Hazel felt faint from mingled suspense and
dread, then came the distant patter of a horse's
hoofs, tlie rattle of wheels, and soon from around a
bend she saw her father nearing. To dart out from
the bank and run to meet him was her next act. He
halted his horse sharply, and said, " Hullo, girlie I
Why, what ye doin' here ? " And the next moment
Hazel had leaped into the buggy, then into his lap,
with arms about his neck, and sobbing.

To her the world now held but one person, and
she was in his arms!

" Why, what's happened ? " came the quf from
her father as he began to stroke and pr Hazel's
head, then kissed her. " What on arth is the mat-
ter, house burned, or what ? "

"No, notliing of that sort," responded Hazel,
cheering up, " only I left home soon after you did,
got breakfast at iN.olly's, stayed at the schoolhouse
a while to kill time, and came up here to meet you.
I began i get scared, I guess ; it's so lonesome here.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 227

She's gone," she added the next moment, " and the
iKiys with her. Uncle Levi took them to the sta-
tion. I saw them pass the schoolhouse and she'd
been crying."

"O' course, o' course," returned her father so-
berly, " 'n' I'm sorry she had to. I'm sorry any
woman ever has to cry. But it's best so. Martha
was like an achin' tooth to you 'n' I, Hazel, 'n' o'
course it hurt all 'round to hev it yanked out. Now
it's out, let's forget it 'n' start fresh. I'm goin' to
do the right thing by Martha, ez I said, 'n' soon ez
it kin be done, too. I've got the money, your
money, whar it's safe, 'n' now we kin keep house
'n' hev a lot o' comfort. Ye got to stop keepin'
school, though, now." Then he drew from his
pocket a bank book and handed it to Hazel.

" Why, it's ten thousand dollars," she exclainied,
glancing first at her name on the cover, then inside.
" and you only had nine thousand, five hundred ! "

" Wal, yes, that's so, but I've ben scrapin' up a
h'ctk fer ye 'long back, 'n' I wanted to make it even
money," he answered tenderly, " 'n' now I won't hev
to worry no more 'bout your futur."

Tlien, as if all clouds had now rolled away
from their sky. he kissed her once more, picked up
the reins and dro\c on.

338

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Half way to Oakdale, and where an outlook point
was reached, from which the vista of valley and
bordering ocean was visible, he halted again.

" Say, girlie," he said, with a droll smile and wco
little twinkle in his eyes, " do v ■ know what I fust
thought when you pounced out onto me so sudden
up back ? "

"No," she letuirifd, also smiling; "I couldn't
guess. What was it ? "

" Why, I cal'lated you must 'a' heerd Mr. Whip-
r'e had ben scalpt by Injins, that's what."

" Well, you are wrong, father, all wrong," she
answered decidedly ; " Mr. Whipple isn't in my
thoughts at all I "

" O' course not, course not," he responded sooth-
ingly; "how could he be? That was only my
guess ! "

Then he chirruped to the horse and on they went
again.

CHAPTER XIX

WHEN Uncle Asa and Hazel returned to
their hid-avvay home in Maple Dell, both
feeling like school children at the close of
a term, they found that Martha had prepared and
left for them a rather unique and also solemn sur-
prise, for the parlor was arranged as if for a funeral.
All chairs from other rooms, except rockers, had
been carried to the parlor and arranged in rnws;
Hazel's banjo, auto-harp, and all books and music
taken out and piled on the kitchen table ; the curtains
drawn ; the center-table set close to the fireplace and
on it lay the family Bible, open, with a vase of
flowers beside that. To add a suggestive illusion,
the tall clock had been stopped at ten-thirty exactly !

" Wal," drawled Uncle Asa, smiling, as he sur-
veyed this arrangement, " Martha's fixed things
'bout ez they'd orter be for 'n occasion o' this sort,
'cept the corpse. Wonder if she figgered or war
hopin' I'd drop dead out o' sudden grief to finish the
layout ? "

Then going to th<> center-t.^hle, he found in the
229

230

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

open Bible an even more spiteful addition to this
parting shot — her wedding ring !

" Kinder wanted to do a little scratchin', didn't
ye, Martha ? " he ejaculated at sight of this, " 'n'
tell me ye war dern glad to git shet o' me, eh? Wal,
thar's two on us feelin' that way, anyhow !

" Say, Hazel," he added, glancing at her as she
raised the shades, " your dear stepmother's left her
weddin' ring to spite me, but she didn't leave the
watch 'n' chain I give her on that suspicious occa-
sion, I notice? Curis, curis," he continued mus-
ingly, " what a make-up that woman had, anyhow I
Here I let her hev 'bout all the money that cum in
fer nine years, 'most of which she salted ; I clothed
'n' eddicated them two boys o' hern, 'sides puttin' up
with all their devilment, 'n' now. not satisfied with
tryin' to steal your sheet anchor, that money, she
sets out to kick me once fer good measure ! 'Bout
all she lacked to be perfect war horns, two hoofs,
'n' a forked tail, I cal'late.

" I s'pose she'll say all sorts o' nasty things 'bout
yew 'n' I, Hazel," he continued, smiling at her now,
"but we'll let her do the talkin', won't we, girlie?
It'll be a case o' givin' a calf rope enough, I figger? "

" No, she won't dare," responded Hazel, who
understood women's nature better than her father,
" for I, too, left her a note telling her I saw her

m/-*: i-^Km'- .' . ,

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

231

steal the money, and she knows people will believe
me sooner than her.

" V/hy, she's a fool," she added a moment later,
opening the clock to start it, " for she's left both
our notes and that make-believe roll of money tied
to the clock pendulum! Now we can prove why
she was asked to go away! No, we shall never
hear a word from her, father ! "

And the keen-witted Hazel measured her much-
abhorred stepmother aright, for never a word of
explanation came from her to any one in Oakdale,
or any comi unication except to Squire Phinney,
requesting him to sell he former home, now rented,
which he later on did.

And so closed this peculiar woman's connection
with Uncle Asa and with Oakdale as well.

He was true to his promise and idea of justice,
also, for he at once authorized Phinney to obtain
the aid of two other honorable men, make a fair
appraisal of his old, weather-worn house and small
farm, and a year later that factotum of Oakdale's
legal affairs paid Goshen a visit, tendered the
obstreperous Martha a sum equivalent to her dower
right in Uncle Asa's estate, and received in return
a legal release from such rights, duly signed, wit-
nessed, and afterward recorded in the archives of
Oakdale.

23a

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

l^ 1 i:!

Of course such a happening astounded that quiet
hamlet as naughi; else ever had done, although Mrs.
Phinney and several other wise matrons shook their
heads or nodded mysteriously while discussing it,
and asserted that it was no more than they had
expected all along. Also that Uncle Asa had been
duped to begin with, and the only wonder was why
he had stood it as long as he had.

" I've no explanation to make or a word to say
about the affair," Hazel responded to the eager in-
quiries of Molly Bascom and the rest of her girl
friends. " I've never liked my stepmother, as every
one knows, but I've had to endure her, however,
as best I could for father's sake. Now that she
has seen fit to depart and can't defend herself, I shall
be charitable enough to say 'amen' and nothing
more to all alike."

And true to the nobility of her character. Hazel
never did say anything else.

Uncle Asa also made haste to fill the domestic
gap in his home by engaging the services of Aunt
Sally Perkins, a spinster sister of Molly Bascom's
mother, who for a modest stipend was glad to
accept so good a home and become a combination
of chaperon and mother to Hazel ; also housekeeper.
She was eminently pious, feared the Lord, prayed
earnestly for everybody and everything each night.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

233

and the only point of difference between herself and
Uncle Asa was because he ignored the need of say-
ing grace before every meal.

Hazel appeared in the church choir each Sunday,
her auto-harp and banjo were heard more frequently
in the house, Uncle Asa became more droll and
smiling, Hazel's girl friends came oftener to Maple
Dell, and the dove of peace and angel of happiness
both were daily visitors.

And then one day Uncle Asa made a characteristic
proposition to Hazel.

" Summer's more'n half gone, girlie," he said to
her, " 'n' it's 'most the last o' August. Now let's
yew 'n' I git up a sort o' picnic to celebrate some
Ihings as is turnin' out to be blessin's. Yew invite
a few o' yer gal friends, 'n' two or three fellers, o'
course, to balance up, all my two boats'll carry, 'n'
we'll all go down to the shore, sing, go bathin', dig
clams, brile some lobs, 'n' ez the moon's 'most full,
come home by the ligi.i on't. What do ye say? "

" I've a better plan," answered Hazel smilingly,
after considering this one, " and that is, you and I
will go all by ourselves and do what you suggest.
You are good enough company tor me; I am hap-
piest with you alone, so let us picnic together."

" Wal, jist ez ye say, girlie," returned her father
benignly ; " you are sarlinly good 'nuff company

*»

OCT

kl'i ' -il

234

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

fer me, 'n' to-morrer we'll start 'bout ten when the

tide sarves."
He was up early the next day, made many trips

between home and boathouse, carrying all sorts of
things for convenience and comfort, and when all
was ready and Hazel followed him to it, she smiled
at the array of cushions where she was to sit in the
stern of his small boat over which he had rigged
a canvas canopy to protect her from the sun. To
add to the picturesque touch, he had also tacked
strips of old sail-cloth around the gunwales to hold
in place a fringing row of cat-tails. He assisted
Hazel to her seat as if she were a queen. She
grasped the tiller ropes, he the oars, and away they
went.

" Ye needn't mind steerin'," he said a little later,
halting his strokes and handing her her banjo.
" 'Twon't be low water till 'most two, we got lots o'
time, 'n' I'd rather hev you play 'n' sing 'n' I'll go
slower 'n' do the steerin'. Play sutliin lively. I
feel that way, myself."

He certainly did also, for he joined his voice with
hers in the score of time-worn darky songs slie now
rendered with gay abandon; the bobolinks, rail-
birds, and marsh-swallows rose, circled, sang, and
peeped all about and above them; the crisp sea
breeze blew in to add zest, and had they been lovers

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

235

instead of prosy father and daughter, they couldn't
have been more in tune with time, place, and antici-
pation.

He was like a lover, also, all that bright summer
day to his well-beloved " Girlie," waited on her hand
and foot, and while she insisted on donning her
bathing suit in his old fish house up back of the
beach, to wash the clams he dug, that and set the
table were all that she was allowed to do.

" Yew're my Sunday gal to-day, Hazel," he as-
serted smilingly, " 'n' yew 'n' I are sorter sweet-
hearts, too, so ye jist got to be waited on so I kin
feel I'm a young feller agin, jist once."

When fhe clams were steamed just right, lobsters
broiled to a turn, and coffee made, they two feasted,
as well they could now, and after that with Hazel
in a hammock he had strung up in the grove, Uncle
Asa lit his cob pipe, seated himself at the foot of a
tree in the shade and, as might be expected, became
philosophic.

" Thar's nothin' like the smell o' salt water 'n'
lookin' out over the ocean 'n' surf to make a body
fergit everything else, git lie," he said, " speshly
when ye hev it all to yerself. Now, I figgered ycw'd
like some young folks 'long for company, 'n' let me
wait on the bunch. But this is a lot better, 'n
makes me feel more like kickin' up my heels."

i:i

236

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" That's why I said we two would come and no
one else, fathr/," returned Hazel. "I know you
best, and what you enjoy best."

" Ye do, girlie, ye do sartin," he responded, well
pleased and smiling, " 'n' now I'm goin' to tell ye
suthin I never did afore nor to nobody else o'
course, 'n' it's this. If thar's any more darn fool
things'n one man kin do in this world, it's what
two will blunder into, I'm satisfied. Now when
your mother died o' course I figgered you'd need,
'n' grow up happier by havin' some one to take her
place, ez it war, 'n' I married Martha — or ez I
rec'lect how it cum 'bout, she did :he trick, 'n' that's
what it was. Now I was — wal, let's fergit it fast
ez we kin, only it leads up to 'nother matter that's
on my mind — your futur. Now with that money
I've got safe in the bank for ye — 'n' it seemed
like Kingdom Come to me to git it — you won't
never be 'bleeged to marry fer a home. Ye may,
o' course, 'n' I hope ye will if jist the right man
wants ye, but go slow 'n' be keerful, mighty keerful,
'bout doin' so. Gittin' married is takin' a life sen-
tence to live 'n' love one man. That is, love him a
spell 'n' be the best o' friends arter, that is all 'twill
amount to, ez ye must 'spect. Ye want to go 'bout
it with your eyes open, too, not let your feelin's
count fer much either — 'tain't safe; they'll fool ye.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

237

sure, ez Natur planned to hev 'em. 'N' this leads
me lip to that feller, Whipple.

" I ain't pryin' inter your heart feelin's, Hazel,"
he continued more earnestly after a pause. " I
couldn't ef I wanted to, 'n' I don't want to. Only
I mean to give ye the best advice I kin, 'n' ye must
do ez ye feel is best. Now I like him, he's square
'n' honest, 'n' true blue. But he's kinder bossy, high
strung, 'n' must be looked up to 'n' 'lowed his own
way. Gin him that, 'n' he'll be a noble sort o'
hero, snub him some 'n' he'll git sulky. That's his
make-up ez I've measured him, 'n' I think I'm right.
Now he's done me a good turn, nobody ever did or
could do one like it, 'n' got me the money I war
skinned out on over twofold. 'N' it war money I
had laid up fer yew. O' course I feel grateful, I'd
orter. Now back o' all that, 'twa'n't fer me en-
tirely he done it, 'twar fer you. Hazel, I'm sartin,
'n' that man's figgering on winnin' yew ez pay. I
don't blame him, neither. If I was him, 'n' knowin'
yer make-up ez I do, I'd sell my soul to git ye 'n'
call it a good bargain. But that's what ye must
figger on. He'll be here 'fore long, 'n' when he
comes he'll come courtin', mark my words ! "

" I know it," interrupted Hazel eagerly, " or I've
half believed it so some time, and what you say
convinces me what his intentions are. He is a nice

238

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

enough man, no doubt. There are some things
about him I like also; he is refined and honorable,
I am sure, but he is as you say, masterful, and wants
his own way and — I wouldn't marry such a man if
!ie were the last one on earth and crawled on hands
and knees from Oakdale depot to get me — never,
never I

" There is something else I'm going to tell you,
father," she continued more tenderly, " and it's
this: You have all your life long been the most
loving of fathers to me, have scrimped and saved
money to protect me from want when you are gone.
You worried your poor dear heart sore because you
thought it lost, and now in return, and for what few
years you have left, I am going to be yours only,
and do all in my power to make you happy. If
Mr. Whipple got me he'd want to take me away and
leave you alone and — and, father, he couldn't make
me love him enough to do that in a thousand years,
and I mean it, too, if it were the last words I had
to utter ! "

And so she did, just then.

" There is another thing you haven't thought of.
father," she added more calmly, "and it's tb^".
Mr. Whipple came here to buy a power site
Barre, and North, or Curtis, who sold you the mii.
stock, heard of it and planned to get aliead of him

THE CASTLE DUILDERS

239

in the matter. Mr. Whipple found it out, came here
again, hinted around that it was Bear Hole Swamp
he intended to buy, and actually bought Rocky Glen
gorge for his dam site. He also guessed that this
man North or his partner, Otero, would be taken in
as they really were, and buy your swamp to get the
better of him or his firm. It has all worked out
as Mr. Whipple planned, and this swindler, Curtis,
or Otero, has bought what you were glad to sell and
nobody else wants. Now my guess in the matter is
that Mr. Whipple has gone to all this trouble fully
as much to get square with this trickster, Curtis,
as to do you a good turn. And while I am thank-
ful he did, and you got your money back, he mustn't
expect me to feel obligated to marry him on that
account anyhow. Isn't that so, father ? "

" Wal, that's 'bout the size on't, girlie," returned
Uncle Asa, " only Mr. Whipple didn't really have
any call to put the job up. He'd got the site he
wanted, my money or yewrn wa'n't hisn to worry
'bout, 'n' ef he hadn't got his eye on yew 'n' knew,
ez I told him, 'twas yewr heritage I'd got buried in
this no-good mine, why should he bother himself at
all? No, Hazel, it is ez ye say, ye needn't feel
noways in debt to Mr. Whipple, but I am, jist the
same. Hou^oniever. let's fereit \\ lev now. Ye
can't cook a rabbit till xc Ketch it. Mr. Whipple

iii

240

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

hain't ketched you yit, 'n' my idee is he'll hev a
middliii" lively chase 'fore he does. Yew are, as
Sam Gates sez, sweeter'n peaches an' cream, yew are
all I'm livin' fer, but when it comes to a feller —
wal, yew kin be harder to ketch'n an eel in wet
grass, yew kin! 'N' I'm proud on ye fer it, too!
Now let's go git some scashells fer Aunt Sally, to
show her she wa'n't fergot."

As planned, also. Uncle Asa and his piquant
" Girlie," after a day of quite unalloyed happiness
and mutual heart exchange, drifted homeward on
the inflowing tide just as the moon began to silver
their pathway. A gentle sea breeze swelled the one
triangular sail Uncle Asa had set, the marsh birds
had all gone to rest, and the peace and quietude of
coming night were over all. He, also, having " said
his say," as he would put it, and steering, was in
retrospective mood, watching the scattered lights m
the distant village and conscious, also, that a now
distinctly outlined and more populous one on the
hillside back of it, would in the near future become
his final home ; while Hazel in the bow, ensconced in
cushions, picked soft chords on her banjo and
watched the rising moon.

To one, life's end and its ominous shadow were
nearing; to the other, its charm, and all its illusions
were just rising.

THK CASTLE BUILDKRS

241

Only for a little while was this wide separation
of mood allowed by Hazel, for intuitively reading
it in her father's face, she swept her fingers across
the banjo sharply, and began to carol that happy
old darky love song, " My Gum Tree Canoe," as if
meaning to drive away his megrims.

" We've had a jolly, happy day, hain't we,
girlie ? " he said tenderly, later on, as they walked
hand-in-hand up the lane. " One o' the happiest
I've had in many years — jist you 'n' I, 'n' it war
enufl. Two is company, 'n' even three is a crowd
when two are satisfied."

" We are going to have a lot more of them,
father," she answered in the same tone, " and you
must put it out of your head right now that I am
likely to marry and leave you, for I never shall."
And then the bony lingers that held one of her soft
little hands closed with a warmer clasp.

Another surprise, and also an assurance of what
was in store for her — the weal or woe of a man's
heart — .iwaited her on the parlor table in the form
of a mailed package addressed to her by what she
instantly recognize! as the same hand that had
adaressed the bundle of hooks and music, and open-
ing it eagerly, she found ^i beautiful pair of bead-
embroidered and fringed deerskin slippers, and on
the front of each was painted a tiny spray of flow-

^■i^Bi

342 TPIR CASTI.F BUILDRRS

ers with a bird liolding it in its beak. With these,
also, was a fan with tortoise shell handle, that
opening disclosed an excellent picture of a rocky
coast, vista of ocean, and waves leaping over the
rocks, quite suggestive of a breeze. The one marvel
of the gift — she knew it came from Stacy — was
tliat the slippers lilted her dainty feet exactly!

And recalling how he had stood and watched her
with toes Planting upward under the big pine tree,
a flush came to her face at thouglit of his accurate
memory and measure.

" It won't do him any good," she said to herself
decisively, feeling in the slipi)ers to find if he had
enclosed a card, and failing; "they are two beau-
tiful gifts, but I shall never leave father."

Then she hurried up to her room and hid them,
also resolving to keep the arrival of these a secret.

'.yA_'«/L*]!F'2!;L''imEHS'ifirjHU'AxnHr'V!nB«~iiC'/

CHAPTER XX

STACY'S trip to Seattle, including other stops,
had consumed more time than he expected,
and it was almost .y. wtcks ere he aliglited
from an east-bound train p' i' a a hide Junciion once
more. He had wondi i 1 ui-iiy tiiiiia now Uncle
Asa had come out of his barjjnin-'Ir'vinp with Otero,
hoping most decidedly that if I'n' bein tuccessful.
Hazel had been in his thoughts sccrr; of timi s each
day of those long six weeks, and once during a
tiresome wait at a hotel he had writt.n her u Icng
letter, detailing his visit to Rawhide and discoveries
there, then from a peculiar intuition that sich a
missive was or might be premature, had torn il up.
" She distrusts me, and will until this business is
all cleared up," he said to himself rather rv.' fully
now, " and any attempt to disabuse her mind before
that time won't help matters. If it all comes out as
I hope," he added after a long recalling of his few
meetings with the cool and piquant Hazel, " she
will see me in a different light. Until then, I'd best
keep still."

And now at tlii Junction, with an hour to wait
243

ill

244

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

and nobody to help him do so, also watching the
vanishing train, he very much wished himself still
on it and speeding eastward towards Oakdale ; then
sat down on a bench outside the station and drew
from his pocket an almost week-old New York
paper bought of the train boy the evening previous.
As he glanced over it, the name " Curtis & Com-
pany" in big type caught his eyes. Also, and
above that, the caption in larger letters —

" THE PASSAIC RECLAIMING AND DE-
VELOPMENT COMPANY.
7% GOLD BEARING BONDS."

In an instant Stacy had read and grasped the
entire animus of this advertiser -nt; Curtis & Com-
pany, Mills Building, Wall Stic, were offering for
sale the perfectly safe and most remunerative bonds
ever known ! That the dear public who had money
to invest should most certainly make haste and send
theirs in before these were al! sold ! There was the
usual lengthy explanation of how in case these gilt-
edged securities were over-subscribed for, allotments
would be made pro rata and in accordance with
date received : would-be investors were also advised
to wire their subscriptions in, with check to follow
liy mail, in order to be more certain of obtaining a
tew of these rare and valuable bonds. The name

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

245

of a prominent bank was given as the one where
interest, semi-annually, would be paid, and a long
list of names for reference followed. All in all,
it was the usual flamboyant advertisement so often
seen in New York papers, also those from other
financial centers.

When Stacy had grasped this one with all it
meant to him, he gave a loud and prolonged whistle !

" Well, you old swindler," he next exclaimed,
jumping up, " now I have you right where I want
you, scooped and bottled up! And I've got the
cork ! "

Then, so excited was he that he started down the
long platform to walk off some of his boiling ex-
citement.

" Well, if this i.sn't luck! " he added, now halting
to cut out this announcement. " I am, as Uncle
Asa would say, a goat without horns ! "

And just then a vision came to this inveterate
builder of air castles, and he savi' himself >vith Jim
Harkins and another officer, also perhaps this
Swede. Tygson. just walking into the office of
Curtis & Company, and quietly but firmly request-
ing him or Otero to sign a deed of Bear Hoi'-
Swamp for " one ciollar and other considerations "
without fnrtlier parley.

" And he will do it, too. uilhoul a nninnur."

246

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

asserted Stacy, glancing up to see the Rawhide

branch train backing down beside the station ; " do
it as nonchalantly as though buying a drink, for
that's his make-up, a dead game sport! I think
the proposition to visit Rawhide and face the music
would phase him, however." Then Stacy picked
up his suit-case, boarded the branch train, and was
soon crawling up to Rawhide.

He had wired Harkins, who met him at that
terminus, and the two shook hands eagerly.

"M^ell, what luck, friend Harkins?" Stacy in-
quired anxiously. " Got any facts or documents
that we want ? "

" Oh, yes, all we shall need," returned Harkins
buoyantly. " I've got Tygson's affidavit detailing
the story of that night's orgie and his part in it,
and he is more than anxious to go East and face
Curtis North. He also wants some plan devised
to make North give back his stolen gold or its
value. He had about twenty thousand dollars
worth of dust in his belt that night, he claims,
and the murdered man double that. I've had
hard work to keep him quiet, and not demand a
warrant and ofiicer .5cnt to arre.st North, at once!
I've also anotlier proof positive, a picture of
Nortli found by someone in the cabin a month
after the murder. It had been tucked in back of

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

247

the lithograph of a race-liorse tacked to the bare
wall, and probably left there by one of the women.
I got this through our friend McCue, vho knew
who had taken it thea I've also got ' Bricktop '
located, or think I have. She's in 'Frisco, or was
a year ago."

" Well, you have got a full hand and the joker,"
laughed Stacy, as they now alighted from the car-
riage taken to the hotel. " Let's have something
to eat! I'm faint from fasting. Then after I've
breakfasted, we'll settle on our plans. I've also
got a surprise for you — read tiiat ! " and Stacy
handed him the clipped-out advertisement.

It was a half-hour before Stacy emerged from
the dining-room, for this higli-altitude town's
bracing air had made him ravenous. Then he lit
a cigar, found Harkins outside on the piazza, also
smoking, and sat down beside him. " Well,
Jim," he said in off-hand tone, "' what do we do,
go fetch North back here and have a lynching
party, or just make liim disgorge? "

" W^ell, it's up to you," returned Harkins, " and
as I said, you can have either one or t'other, but
not both, as you can easily mulerstand. Why the
man's a mark now, and by that :u\ I judije lie
rnay have money enough to pay smart. I tliink."
he added afler a pause, " we'd In'.st lake Tyj,'son

-48

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

along and get his money for him. Also, and in
return for that, make him sign some sort of paper
certifying that this was a loan made to North
by him, or payment for mine stock and now re-
turned. You see, I am, as an officer of the law,
placed in a peculiar position, and under oath not
to compound a felony or accept bribes, of course.
I didn't even dare tell Tygson I knew where North
was, only that I knew someone who did or thought
he did. For me to go to New York as an of-
ficer and demand money of North under threat of
arrest and not make it, might, if found out, land
me in jail. You can ask for a deed of your
swamp for a nominal payment legally, Tygson can
demand his stolen money back, I can be stand-
ing by as an observer, but I can't do any demand-
ing or admit I have a warrant for the arrest of
this swindler. You must do the talking, I stand
by as a bluff, and that is the layout.

" I will, of course, go with you, and do all I can
for a brother Mason," he continu'-d after another
pause, " and as a private citizen, or I will go as
an officer with a warrant for this man's arrest.
It's a choice, and fur you to decide which I shall
'W

■■ / must think t! at over a little." returned Stacy
slowly, not quite gi;isi)ing the legal aspect of the

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

249

case. "I don't care to lay myself open to the
law, or, as you say, compound a felony."

" You won't and can't unless I swear I've proved
to you this North is an escaped criminal," inter-
rupted Harkins, "and I shall not do that. My
idea is that you bf.st gn on East alone, look
thmgs over, write ine later, and if you say so,
Tygson and I will come on and meet you in New
York. You may want to investigate this new
scheme of Curtis & Company, and perhaps use that
for a lever to make him disgorge."

" I presume a write-up of Curtis North, his pic-
ture and a certificate of Rawhide stock ready for
use by a New York paper, would make him wince,"
mused Stacy in response to this. "Anyhow, I'll
do as you say, Brother Harkins — go back and look
the land over. There is no hurry, and I don't
know yet whether my Uncle Asa has sold his swamp
or not. If not, there is nothing doing for us until
he has, that's certain. I think you'd best let me
take that picture of ' his whiskers ' on with me,"
added Stacy after a pause, " also the buffalo head
fob. I can use Uncle Asa's certificate of Raw-
hide stock for the signature of Curtis North, ob-
tain that of Pentecost Curtis from the hotel in
Barre, then make a plioto of picture, fob. and the
two signatures on one plate. A sort of deadly

250

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

parallel proof of the alias business. I will also
write up the Rawhide history, parallel that with
this new Passaic swindle, and say — wouldn't the
" New York Universe " just jump at such an ex-
pose? That paper has a perfect mania for the
exposure of such swindling schemes, a world's
record, in fact ! "

And once more Stacy began the building of an
air castle, and saw this one of an exposure, not
only filling an entire page of " The Universe," but
copied by Innulrcds of other leading papers as well!

" Your scheme is all right," laughed Harkins in
response, " and if Curtis & Company have invested
as much money in this swindle as the ad. shows
that they must, you can easily exchange your write-
up and proof for a deed of your Uncle Asa's
swamp and no questions asked."

" And poor Tygson get left? " interrupted Stacy.

" No-o," drawled Harkins, also castle building,
" he and I could come on later, or better still, be
at hand, and as soon as you got your deed signed,
witnessed, and in your pocket, I could do my duty
as an officer — and there would be sometliinj; do-
ing in Rawhide later on, and Curtis North would
be tlie star feature ! I can subpoena ' Bricktop ' as
witness for tlie State, Tygson will swear to any-

-. i<)i,

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 251

thing, and by Jove," he added, slapping his knees
sharply, " we've got him, got him dead to rights !

" It does me good," he almost shouted, " to see
my way clear to string that villain up, for it was
a heartless murder, to inveigle and dope a poor
miner, then kill and rob him ! "

And so in accord in the cause of justice were
these two now, that they jumped up and sliook
hands there and then.

"We'll do it, we'll do it," exclaimed Stacy.
" I'll start East to-night, you go to 'Frisco and lo-
cate ' Bricktop,' then come on when I wire with
Tygson, and the trick is done ! "

" Better still." asserted Harkins. wise to the ways
of such elusive females as this " Bricktop," " I'll
fetch the red-headed fairy back to Rawhide and
lock her up till wanted. Then we've got her s.t re.
By Jove, we've got him, got him sure! I can
almost see him swinging in a bag now ! And how
tickled Tygson will be, for this poor Johnson was
like a brotlier to him. he says."

Stacy and Harkins now made another tour of
Rawhide, visited its Masonic temple, library, club
rooms, and called on the unique McCue, who so
enjoyed lynchings. Then that afternoon St.icy de-
parted for the long ride eastward, well satisfied

252

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

with what he had accomplished, and with his
thoughts on Maple Dell and the fair maid dwelling
there.

" If only Uncle Asa has landed (,>«r^ I'll have a
deed oi Bear Hole Swamp nwde out m her name,"
he said * > himself, castle building once more, when
the seiliision of his stateroom on the night sleeper
was 1 ,.chod, " and give it to her for a Christmas
present. Wonder how the slippers fitted, and how
the dear little girl is anyhow? She is a cooler,
she is, but I'll win some smiles if any man can!
I do hope Uncle Asa has landed Otero all right
long ago, for that will put him on my side for
keeps ! Then I'll go ahead and build our dam, in-
duce one or two capitalists to put up shops and
use our power to make any old things that are
useful, start a real estate boom in sleepy old Oak-
dale, shove up a few new houses, dredge that har-
bor, build a wharf, run a trolley line between that
and the depot, and things will be doing in old 0.il.
dale for certain!

" And why not use Bear Hole Swamp for our
reservoir," he added, now thinking of it for the
first time, " and have storage room enough to turn
a million spindles? Also save Rocky Glen for a
trout preserve, and let Uncle Asa run it? Then
we can dike our power down the east side of the

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 253

valley, build shops below it, and save the town
for residences I By Jove, I'll do it I "

All of which goes to show that Stacy was not
only fast falling in love with Hazel Webster, but
capa^'c of counting a thousand chickens before they
were hatchtd.

CHAPTER XXI

IT was almost two months from the day Stacy
left Albion, west-bound, until he, more than
glad to do so, alighted from an early morn-
ing train — home again ! He sent his suit-case to
his domicile by an expressman, breakfasted at the
best hotel, and reached his office, as he expected,
an hour ahead of his partner. All the clerks and
the faithful Ike was there, and Stacy at once in-
vited the latter into their private office for con-
sultation.

" Well, Ike, my boy," he then queried eagerly,
" any news from Oakdalc? "

" Why, yes, very important news," responded Ike
witli a knowing smile and wink. " You've been eu-
chred by Pentecost Curtis and Miss Carmen's ad-
mirer, the Spaniard, who have bought Bear Hole
Swamp ahead of you!"

" Hurrali for our side. Rah! Rah!" exclaimed
Stacy, slapping Ike on the back. " This seems too
good !o be true! IIow did you find it out? "

" Why one of the Barre Committee, fellow by
the name of Alton. J. Smith .Alton, his card says,
254

Ji^;

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 255

came in and told us abet it. Said lie tlioii.,'ht we
otin''t to know it. He was here over a monili
ago, sptirting around with Miss Carmi.n. i saw
them twice, once going info the Jap Garden, and
once out to Riverside theater," and Ike smiled
wisely again. " The little dude was out of 1. wn. I
guess," he added, " but he's back now. I saw
him on the street last week."

" That's all right, more than right," returned
Stacy, chuckling, "and now. Ike, I'll p st you on
what's doing. Mr. Leon O tro, having boii>,'ht
Bear flole .Swamp of Uncle Asa, as I planned to
have him do, notified the Dane chap to i iiie here
and u . I us. then finding I was out of town, went
to New York to confer vith and assist his backer
in a new scheme they r.ie at work upon, ih has
also notified the Barre Committee where he is to
be founc when wanted, and is awaiting mj return
.in.xiously. to work the great twist act on us. Miss
Carmen is also waiting for the other bracelet and
her share of the spoils. And they will Ixjth wait
a long time, and some more at that! Now, Ike"
— and Stacy paused to formulate his next move on
this peculiar chessboard — " T want ou to get some
cluini of yours, fellow, of course, and you two
go around together each evening where this Otero
is likely to pn, and when you spot him, get near

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356

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

enough for him to hear, then begin telling your
friend of a good joke you heard lately of the Town
Committee of Barre or someone buying a swamp
named Bear Hole in Oakdale for a dam site, when
another one had already been bought by Bemis,
Colby & Company for that same purpose. En-
large upon and laugh over the huge jol-e on the
party who bought Bear Hole Swamp, then go
away; or, better still, after some other exchange,
separate in opposite directions. Do you under-
stand?"

" Sure," returned the now city-wise Ike, " that's
an easy stunt, and I'll go at it at once. I might
expedite matters by locating the hotel this Otero
stops at — I know him, but he don't know me —
arid the trick can be turned right away." Then
the dutiful Ike returned to his work in the outer
office, and Stacy awaited Colby with much eager-
ness. He arrived shortly after, and the two part-
ners greeted each other cordially.

" Well, old man," asserted Colby after the
hand-shake, " I'm mighty glad to see you back safe
and sound. When did you fetch in? "

" This morning on the sleeper. How's every-
thing, and Aunt Carrie? Seen her lately? "

" She's o. k., and so is everything else, and you've
done finely to land that extra order for drills,"

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

257

responded Colby, who had the habit of condensing
a good deal in a few words. " But the Barre folks
are getting uneasy, your friend Otero has bought
the dam site they suppose we want, which squares
your Uncle Reuben, as you wanted, so you best go
there in a day or two and pacify them. Get
rested first, however. I've got a couple of sur-
veyors engaged," he added hurriedly. 'They can
go with two days' notice, and you know what's
to be done."

" They can wait till I want them," returned Stacy
decisively, " but I'm going to Oakdale on the noon
train, however ; lands me there in time for supper."

"With the fair maid of shortcake fame, of
course," smiled Colby, facing around from his desk
again. " You are stung, as I remarked, and I'm
in for the five-hundred-plunk present, I see, and
glad of it! By the way, how's your sleuth act
panning out ? Got Curtis North in limbo yet ? "

" No, but as I've got my Uncle Reuben, as you
call him, out of it, I'll have North on a limb later.
Tell you all about it when I'm back. Give me a
check for three hundred ; I'm broke," and the hus-
tling Stacy, waiting only for that, added, " Ta, ta,
see you in a week," and hurried out of the office.

Like his partner, he was not addicted to long ex-
planations or waste of time over business mat-

258

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

ters. With him it was to tliink and act almost
simultaneously, as he was now doing.

He cashed his check within live minutes after
the bank opened, bought four fresh outing shirts,
some ties and collars, rushed around to a candy
store for a five-pound box, halted at a barber's
for a shave and hair cut, then jumped into a cab
and arrived home at ten-fifteen exactly, and
ordered " Cabby " to call for him in time for the
twelve-forty-five train out. He also rushed into
the house, kissed his aunt dutifully, said, " I'd like
dinner at twelve, sharp," hurried upstairs, took a
bath, repacked his suit-case, and was down stairs
at eleven-twenty precisely, looking spick and span
in a fresh summer suit.

" Now, Aunty," he said, plumping into a big
chair near her, " I've got just an hour to tell you all
about it, then I'm ' off agin, Finnegan.' "

"Why, what's your rush, Stacy?" she returned
pleadingly. " You have been gone two months, and
now you stay home just an hour! It — it isn't
treating me right ! "

" No, no, it isn't. Aunty," he assented, soothingly.
" It's an outrage, I admit. But I've got pressing
business in Oakdale, and that milkmaid who says
' Haow ' is waiting for me — I hope, I shall be
home again in a few days, and give you a five

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

259

hours' talk. Here's something I brought you," and
opening the pacl<age she found a table-spread of
soft deerskin, with an astounding picture of In-
dians seated around a campfire, and a pair of beaded
moccasins. Of course she exclaimed over them,
grateful to be remembered, as all old ladies are.

" I hope you will have good luck in Oakdale,
Stacy," she assured him benignly, when he was de-
parting again, " and remember, when you do bring
a good wife here, it will be the happiest day I've
known for a long time."

" Even if she does chew gum, and say ' Laws-
a-massy ! ' " laughed Stacy, then kissed his aunt,
gratefully this time, and was whirled away.

It was just sunset when he once more crossed
the Rocky Glen Brook, nearing Oakdale, also eight
weeks and two days since Uncle Asa had bade him
God-speed at the station. And now, glancing at
this brook (his own, as he recalled wiiU satisfac-
tion), its diminished volume struck him as ominous,
for the long not summer had reduced it to a mere
rill. Hazel' hoolhouse, a poor little brown hut
— seemingly so now — was next passed, and
brought a thrill to his heart ; the village street, soon
entered, was without an occupant, and looking across
the opening vista of meadow to the thicket of trees
marking the entrance to Maple Dell, Stacy felt that

26o

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

somehow these past eight weeks had linked his
heartstrings and life plans almost irrevocably with
or to the " maiden rare " abiding there. How
she fared, or possibly felt towards him, was like
the twilight now concealing the enclosing hills, and
as vague as they. But a faint glow above these
from the rising mooi. ts increasing, and to Stacy
just now, that seemed an omen of favor ; also made
him wish he could fly to that sequestered spot.

Sam and the Old Guard were now, as invariably
on summer evenings, lined up on the piazza as he
alighted from Uncle Levi's old carryall, and Sam,
seeing who it was, sprang to his feet with a " Hullo,
Mister Whipple, by gosh, I'm glad to see ye,"
grasped Stacy's suit-case and almost dragged him
inside. " Come right along," he added, in his
anxiety to make his guest welcome, " 'n' I'll hev
suthin cooked special ez it's past supper time.
What 'ud ye like? I kin gin you some steak, some
fried lobsters, or I kin brile ye a spring chicken,
only that takes longer."

And this reception warmed Stacy's heart as
naught else had for two months now, and assured
him that he was in favor at Oakdale, or at least at
Sam's hostelry.

" Go right up to the front room, yew know
yewr's," Sam added, and as Stacy had admitted

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

261

fritJ lobster would suit him, he then vanished
kitchenward to order it.

The presiding genius of the dining-room who
answered to "Noiah" also smiled on Stacy later
on, and then, when well fed and back to the piazza,
he felt that he must break away from the talkative
Sam as speedily as possible, for Maple Dell was
calling him.

" I hope ye're goin' to make a good stop with
us, Mr. Whipple," ventured Sam as Stacy came out,
evidently anxious to keep him there for the even-
ing. " Sit down 'n' tell us what's kept ye 'way
so long? I cal'lated yew'd be back fishin' in your
own brook long 'go? 'Scuse me fer seemin' 'quisi-
tive," he added eagerly, " but we've ben hearin' so
many yarns 'bout ye or what ye war goin' to do
here, I — wal, I — I'm powerful glad to see ye any-
how! I s'pose ye know thar's ben 'nother feller
here to buy B'ar Hole Swamp, didn't ye ? "

And then Stacy had to laugh at Sam's adroit way
of relieving his suspense without being impertinent.

" Yes, I have," admitted Stacy, still smiling and
resolving to have some fun with Sam in turn and
square an old score. " I know this chap, Otero, has
bought Bear Hole Swamp for a big reservoir and is
to put up a power house and some shops below as
well. Have heard, also, he has bought or is to buy

262

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

yo . hotel site and build a big modern one for sum-
mer visitors, that the harbor is to be enlarged, a line
of steamers put on to New York, and lots more
doing. Have you had an offer for your hotel ? "

" Good Lord," gasped Sam, " do ye mean it or
am I dreamin' ? " Then with a quizzical glance at
Stacy he added, " Yew kin take my hat on yarnin',
yew kin! I ain't seven-spot high in the game, i;;,»
a minute I But thar's suthin' brewin', 'n' — vval,
I'll 'low ye'r square with me fer B'ar Hole Swamp,
all right, all right ! "

" I evened that up when you signed the deed for
Rocky Glen gorge for six hundred dollars, Sam,"
laughed Stacy, " for it is there I may build a dam
and put up 1 power house, and I would hi-ve paid
three thousand dollars or even more for it , obliged
to. I am willing to allow we are quits en Bear
Hole Swamp, Sam. You needn't feel bad. however.
Later on I will show you how to square yourself in
money for practically giving me the Rocky Glen
site."'

And then Sam Gates, the sharpest and shrewdest
Yankee in Oakdale, realized that he liad met his
match and been outwitted.

" I shall have a couple of surveyors here in a few
days, Sam," continued Stacy, low resolving to re-
lieve that worthy's suspense, " and we will probably

•^<^PtNm -m VP

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

263

begin building a dam right away, for my firm has
a contract to supply electric power to Barre within
a specified time. I shall make my home here in
your excellent hotel, so will some of my best men ;
we shall also have a gang of laborers to house and
feed at low cost. I can pay you well for your as-
sistance in providing for all these men, if you will
give it. Now you know what I came here for two
months ago. Also why I had to look over Bear
Hole swamp and furnish you an excellent joke."

" But what 'bout the other feller, 'n' his buyin'
B'ar Hole," gasped Sam, " fer he did 'n' paid 'n un-
godly price fer't, too? "

" Did you send him into it ahead of the game ? "
queried Stacy, beginning to laugh.

" O' course, o' course," chuckled Sara ; " I had to
do that, he war sich a stuck-up little store-winder
figger he needed goin' through that swamp to take
the conceit out o' him. 'K' it did," he added, now
shaking with laughter, " fer Uncle Asa had to fetch
him back; 'n' all B'ar Hole'd left on him w.>r jist a
few muddy rags 'n' one eye to see outen. He looked
wuss'n a weasel drownded in mud, he did, 'n' so "lad
he wanted to lick me ! "

" '^ind bought the swamp after that?" queried
Stacy, now joining in the laughter. " He probably
saw its value as a hoax and wanted it for his

1 J

,ii\

264

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

friends. Swamps like that are scarce in this world,
Sam! But don't feel grieved. It's still there, and
you can still send r-ewcomers into it."

Then glancing at the rising moon, he continued,
" Now I'm going to stroll down and call on Uncle
Asa," and so escaped from Sam and the Old Guard,
now agog over this astounding disclosure.

" It's Hazel he's anxious to see," asserted Sam
after Stacy was well away from the piazz- , " 'n' by
gosh, if she ketches him she's a winner ! "

" Yew'd o'*er t.ild him 'bout Martha's lightin'
out," drawled Lazy Luke, " 'n' prepared him fur the
shift."

" Why didn't yew do it ? " demanded Sam.

" How could I ? " retorted Luke in measured
tone. " Yew 'n' him war a clackin' every minit, 'n'
nobody else cr-jld git a word in ' "

And far away on the lonely, houseless, moonlit
road, Stacy was striding onward, oblivious to all the
excitement his arrival was to stir in Oakdale, for
just ahead was a bewitchingly cool maid who held
the key of his future life.

■ i'ir

J"»...l"W

CHAPTER XXII

FOR almost two months Stacy had \'iought
about and Hved over his few meeting! with
Hazel mary times; also recalled her dainty
form, rose-tinted complexion, and soulful eyes al-
mosi daily during that time. " A fool illusion," he
kept reiterating to himself. " She's a wonderfully
bright and tharming country lass, smooth of speech
as a polist.»d i ity girl, and keen as a razor at repar-
tee. But she distrusts me, didn't take to me over-
well at first, and it's either forget her or I'm in for
a heartache, I guess."

But he couldn't do that, and in spite of the deep-
laid and sini-^ter plots and schemes he was now try-
ing to circumvent in the cause of justice, or else
evade himself. Hazel kept intruding her personality.
He had ?lso, as she shrewdly surmised, set about the
ri>scuing of Uncle Asa's foolish investment for the
double purpose and kindly wish to aid both him and
Htzel, with her gratitude as final outcome. This
had been done, as he now knew; Uncle Asa had
probably played his role ? 'ccessfully and obtained a
good price for his swamp; Hazel knew it, also, and

i "ff r

If*

266

THE CASTLF. BUILDERS

Stacy's part in that direct restitution, and she ought
by this time to feel that he was an honest well-
wisher of her father and herself, and receive him
accordingly.

But would she ?

And now reaching the foot of the maple-shaded
lane and i;;(iiiestcred dell, he halted, realizing that
his unannounced call so late in the evening was
in rather poor taste.

" She may be abed," he thought, " and will think
I'm crazy to call now."

But it would do no harm to reconnoiter the old
house; she might be on the porch with Uncle Asa
or — better still — alone, and so hi continued up
the lane. Half way to the house and out upon the
evening air now came to him the mingling of several
voices singing to sharper piano accompaniment, and
hastening '.jnward Stacy heard the last verse and
chorus of " The Quilting Party " trille ' a- . borne
to him adown the dell's perfect quietude. He felt
sure that there was no need of hesitating now; no
one would be looking out, so he hastened on and
from outside the shrub-encloised dooryard soon saw
Hazel at the piano, a group of young folk around
her, and facing the window through which Stacy
now glared, was the citified fellow he had seen with
her ir a hammock two months previous !

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

267

And just then Stacy fc. — well, it is needless to
assert how !

Another song was immediately forthcnming rom
this happy group of smiling faces, Hazel's exquisite
voice Iciding in it, and as if to add an extra thorn,
that particular sonp was one of the re it (Kjpular
ones Stacy had sent her!

Only for a minute or two did or would Stacy
remain an observer of this '^ne; he could be no
part of it, he felt it rude thus n play eaves-dropper,
and turning, hurried back to the lane again, feeling
woefully left.

And then whom should he see just emerf ing from
the meadow across the street but Uncle A !

A few quick strides, a " Hello, Uncle xvsa," from
him, a " Wal, hullo! By the great horn spoon, Mis
ter Whipple ! " in loi.der-keyed response, and Stacy
saw him drop a bundle and basket, leap forward,
and grasp both his hands in cordial eagerness.

" Wal, wal, wal," continued Uncle Asa, holding
Stacy's hands, " ef this ain't a s'prise! Why didn't
ye write me? Good Lordy, but I'm glad to see ye!
'N' so'll Hazel be! Come right up to the house!
When'd ye git here ? "

" To-night," returned Stacy with more calmness.
" and came down as soon as I could get away from
Sam. How are you and how is Miss Hazel.' "

rrr

268

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" Oh, fine's a fiddle, both on us ! Come right up
to the house 'n' see the gal fer yersclf." And Uncle
Asa picked up basket and bundle and grasped Stacy's
arm. " I've a lot to tell ye," he added eagerly,
" 'bout how I skun that snake in the grass you sent
me, 'n' took his hay! Nine thousand five hundred
fer that mire hole! Think on't! 'N' it's in the
bank, too, 'n' I've ben singin' halleluiah three times
a day ever since : " And so overjoyed was Uncle
Asa that he slapped Stacy on the back.

" I've got suthin else to tell ye," he added more
seriously. " Martha's gone! "

" Wnat — dead ? " queried Stacy, astonished.

" No, jist gone," returned Uncle Asa in droll tone.
" The Lord hain't took her to His bosom yet 'n' —
wal, it's a question in my mind as to jist what her
address will be in the next world, anyhow. But
come right 'long 'n' see Hazel."

" No-o, I'd belter not to-night," responded Stacy,
halting. " Your daughter has company, a lot of
young people — I walked up near enough to see — ■
and I'd rather not disturi) them."

" That's nothin'," declared Uncle Asa assuringly,
" only Jennie Oaks 'n' Molly Bascom 'n' some o' the
young folks come down fer a sing, I cal'late. I
went down the crick to pull my pots 'n' didn't know
it. They'll go aw.iy nerty soon. Wh.y. I've ben

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

269

vvaitin' two months to see ye — I won't let ye go
now," and he grasped Stacy's arm again to pull him.

" We will go up and sit outside a little while
then," answered Stacy, yielding, " and to-morrow I
will call and pay my respects to Miss Hazel." And
back up the lane he went with Uncle Asa.

Somehow, too, just now, as Stacy came in sight
of the quaint old rookery of a house once more, half
hid by the two luxuriant clusters of lilac and trel-
lised porch between, its outstretching light and
Uncle Aia's warm welcome all made it seem like a
home-coming to him. That Hazel had these callers
to enjoy a sing now appeared differently, and really
no reflection on him or his unexpected arrival.
Instead, he now felt it to be an evidence of her
popularity among Oakdale's young folk. More
than that, had he only known how little respect she
actually had for this cigarette-smoking young fop
from Barre whose ideas and repartee were limited
to " Yaas," " Now, really," " You surprise me," and
whose most thoughtful utterances seemed vapid to
Hazel, Stacy would have felt less chagrin at seeing
him watching her so admiringly !

But Stacy didn't, which was, or was likely to be,
a decided advantage to Dan Cupid.

" We'll sit out here under the big maple tree back
o' the grin'stun," remarked Uncle Asa, now leading

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270

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

the way to it, " so's to be in the shadder, 'n' they
can't see us, or tliey'll stop singin'.

" 'N' it sounds good to me, jist fer 'nuff 'way, 'n'
moonlight," he added, as they both stretched them-
selves on the greensward, " 'speshly Hazel's. I've
heerd the parson run on perty consid'ble 'bout angels
singin', but when she jist lets herself out — wal,
I'm thar in a minnit, 'n' don't want no harps twang-
in' in, either."

And just then, as if to prove his assertion. Hazel's
voice rose sweet, clear, and like a flute in that old-
time ballad, " Beautiful Bells."

Stacy had expected, was anxious, in fact, now to
hear Uncle Asa's version of what had occurred, but
neither uttered a word until this song was finished;
or then cither, for next came another old-timer,
" Speed Away," and following that what Stacy
afterwards learned was Hazel's favorite, " The Last
Rose of Summer." Then the chat and laughter in-
side began again. Stacy saw Hazel go out to the
dining-room and return with a tray of what he as-
sumed were refreshments, and then Uncle Asa spoke
again.

" I s'pose first of all, Mr. Whipple," he said so-
berly, " ye're wonderin' how 'n' why Martha lit out
'n' — w.il, I'd ratlicr not tell jist the reason, 'cause
she's gone, 'n' most likely never'll set foot in this

-ir*' *!<^i<£ti

3S«"'.7 •W^.^fif^KT' '-la

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

271

town agin. She's gone to her sister's in Goshen,
that's 'bout thirty mile from here, 'n' I cal'late nei-
ther on us is sheddin' tears, mebbe. Martha's ways
wa'n't my ways, she sorter — so it seemed — iig-
gered all me 'n' the farm 'n' Hazel was fer was to
gin her a chance to salt down money. I gin her
'bout all that come in 'cept my lobster money 'n' now
'n' then a load of hay to run the house on; Hazel
paid board, 'n' 'bout all we got was salt mack'rel
fer breakfast, 'n' o' course could make dinner 'n'
supper on water mainly, ez she cal'lated. Then she
was pizen to Hazel !

" And then " — with a long pause — " the night
arter I got hold o' that big roll o' money — Martha
found it out o' course— 'n' — 'n' suthin happened
that I'd never quite believed 'thout Hazel seen it ez
she did. 'N' next day Martha went away, 'n' that's
all I'll ever say 'bout it. The money's in the bank
now, I'm goin' to have the farm 'prized 'n' pay
Martha her dower right, 'n' — all I kin say is a
man kin be fergiven fer makin' a drivilin' idjit 'n'
bilcd-down dern fool of himself once — if he does
it twice he'd orter be kicked into next year !

" I've got Aunt Sally Perkins, Molly Bascom's
aunt, to keep house fer us; she's good ez gold 'n'
all wool, rastles with the Lord night 'n' mornin',
'n' thinks the only thing Hazel lacks is wings.

.ii

^«fi^"^'^»nlll■l-Ul;r••^i• • "r«sBPi."*rBi-iP»"s^ '

27a THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Likewise the only thing I'm real shy on is failin'
to say grace 'fore every meal. 'N' she kin cook ekal
to Hazel's mother, 'n' that's — some."

" But tell me about your bargain with my friend,
Otero," rejoined Stacy smiling, for he saw or knew
that Martha had tried to steal this money as surely
as though Uncle Asa had said so; " did it work out
about as I said ? "

" Why, 'twas like takin' candy 'way from chil-
dren," laughed Uncle Asa, " 'n' Sam helped. He
sent this little snippet, silk shirt, blue tie, tall collar,
'n' dude hat on, into B'ar Hole ez a starter, 'n' he
fetched out arter ten hours o' black flies, Mohawk
briars, mud 'n' hornets, so done up he jist lay down
'n' bellered like a calf. 'N' all he had left on him
wuz the seat o' Sam's pants! He wuz so bushed,
too, he was only able to cuss in a whisper ! I took
him back, 'n' Sam said he wuz so mad when he got
his breath he wanted to kill somebody !

" Next day he showed up lookin' slick agin, 'n'
then. Lord, how I did sass him! Rubbed it into
him 'bout snakes not bein' willin' to bite him till —
wal, if he'd had a knife I think he'd 'a' stuck it inter
me!

" 'N' then I took nine thousand, five hundred
outen him jist like pullin' plums off'n a tree, 'n' sorry
I didn't make it ten! I coult" lOO, for I had him so

?«■ MwS'X.lR..;

^^T

■n'Wisr^mtz'-smr^i

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

273

harrowed up he'd 'a' gin it without a squeal." And
Uncle Asa shook with laughter at his recollections.

" \ ou did it all fer me, Mr. Whipple," he con-
tinued, sobering, " saved my life 'most, 'n' Kingdom
Come fer Hazel. I feel you'd orter hev half that
money, too, 'n' if thar's anything I kin do fer you
long's I live, it's yourn', no matter what."

" You are more than welcome to the advice I
gave, which was all I did do," returned Stacy seri-
ously, " and the only return I'd like is for Hazel
to become convinced that I acted from unselfish mo-
tives and to avenge your having been robbed by a
plain, every-day thief as you were. Only you
mustn't tell her so," he added after a pause, " or
even hint it. As I said 'o you on the shore that
day, that conviction must force itself upon her, or
she will dislike me ever after. No young lady of
her spirit can be told that she has been mistaken
in a man, and not resent it."

And just then these two from partial ambush be-
hind the grindstone saw the little band of Hazel's
callers bid her good-night and troop away down the
lane.

" Now we'll go in," said Uncle Asa, rising speed-
ily, "so Hazel kin see ye. T know she'll be glad,
too."

" No, decidedly no," returned Stacy. " I posi-

:tj

,!!«i

I .-I'l

274

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

lively would not so intrude! She has been enter-
taining her friends, must be tired, and so please give
her my compliments and say I shall take the liberty
of calling to-morrow evening. If you are going
down to pull your pots to-morrow afternoon I'd like
to go with you. I've a long story of more interest
to you than you can guess. I also want your
advice."

" I'll go, you bet," was the speedy assurance, " 'n'
we'll start top o' the tide 'bout two."

" I'll be at your bcathouse at two," replied Stacy,
also rising, and handing Uncle Asa the box of
candy he had brought, " Please give this to Miss
Hazel from me and assure her that I enjoyed her
singing very much." Then he hurried away.

To his surprise, also, he found Sam alone on the
piazza awaiting him when he reached the hotel, for
that astute Yankee had by this time seen a new
horizon opening above Oakdale, the possibilities of
which made him almost gasp.

" I've ben waitin' up to see ye, Mr. Whipple," he
assured Stacy, nc .v rising to meet him. " Hev a
cigar, 'n' let's talk matters over." And Stacy, feel-
ing sure that the one preferred must be Sam's best,
lit it, dropped into one of his big chairs, glanced
over the vista of broad meadows to where the moon

'^jn^mjuF'^s:

^rj-'^z-y^

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

275

silvered the bordering ocean, and awaited what
might conic.

" Now fust of all," began Sam, also lighting a
cigar, " I want to tell ye I hope ye don't lay up any-
thing agin me on account o' the trick I played,
. ndin' ye into that swamp? It's a habit o' mine,
sich jokes, 'n' 'bout all I've got to 'liven up Hfe
here. 'N' I'm goin' to 'low I'd 'a' done jist what
ye did, buy that Rocky Glen gorge ez ye did, 'n' I
take off my hat to your slickness. Yew're all right,
yew be ! Now, ez the sayin' is, whar are we at on
this new deal, 'n' what kin I do to help ye? "

" And my worthy friend Sam Gates at the same
time," laughed Stacy, who understood the race of
men who live " beside tho highway of life."

" Wal, o' course, in a way," drawled Sam, " only
ez ye got yer dam site a damn sight Icss'n 'twas
wuth to ye, ye might — wal, jist gin me a hint 'bout
buyin' up some land yew don't really need, 'n' may
riz? I don't s'pose yew want all the persimmons on
the bush ? "

And then Stacy laughed heartily at this Yan-
keeism !

" No, Sam," he returned, still cliuckling, " you
can have all I can't use conveniently, and I'll put you
wise if you will do one thing for mc? "

; il

ir,''v^/»miT^':i^:sjmi^'^mi^^t^^^rtmmg)'mmmr '

276

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

I'f

responded Sam unsus-

" I'll do it, sure's a gun,'
pcctingly. " What is it ? "

" You promise, do you, Sam, on your honor? "

" I do, sartin."

" Well, then, if to-morrow you will rig up for
fishing, go down through Bear Hoi Swamp, and
give what trout you catch to Hazel Webster, I will
in one month from to-day tell you where to buy land
that is sure to quadruple in price in a year! Now
I have your promise, Sam ! "

" Ivmder gittin' square with int'rest, ain't ye?"
responded Sam, grinning, " but, b'gosh, I'!', cio it !
Yew're goin' to build below Rocky Glen, so o' course
land up thar'U riz, won't it? "

" I didn't say so, Sam," replied Stacy, laughing
again. " I said I might. I bought that to catch
trout in ! "

" 'N' ye've ketched me comin' 'n' goin'," admitted
Sam, grinning ruefully, " but if ye'll promise to keep
whist 'n' not tell the old hulkers here, I'll do ez I
said to-morrow."

" And I'll keep my promise, Sam ! "

Then Stacy, satisfied with the way he had squared
himself with the irrepressible Sam, went to bed.

fi.zmm'^ '"

•▼ III' I I il IFIIi i| III 111 I illMI Ill 11 hi>

ing >ou.
season."

CHAPTER XXIII

''OU needn't keep your promise to fish
Bear Hole Brook, Sara," Stacy assured
him next morning. " I was only jolly-
Besides, trout are not good so late in the
For over night Stacy had thought better
of himself, and to send that old and fat lar.dlord
through this morass seemed a pointless and cruel
joke.

" I'll tell you about our plans in due time," he
added. " In fact, when it comes to buyii;g land as
a speculation I think we had better go into part-
nership. You know the value now better than I do,
who owns it, can drive better bargains, and if you
want to go in with me on some, I'll furnish the cap-
ital and allow you one-third of the profit."

" I'll do it, yew bet," admitted the shrewd Sam,
" 'n' mighty glad o' the chance ! "

And so the first practical step towards the erecifon
of Stacy's city was taken and the firm of Whipple,
Gates and Company tlnis started.

"I shall want Uncle Asa in with us," added
277

"T.'^ 'yr sESLi^i^TP*;''^'-;^'' .z .vs;.'

■"'>»-. Sk-.-.j..

278

Tllli CASTIJ'. RUILDF.RS

Stacy. " He owns a lot of land that will — if my
plans work out — become valuable, and — well, I
think a good deal of Uncle .\sa."

" I'm willin', niorc'n willin'," asserted Sam. " fei
he's all right, honest, 'n' a pcrty shrewd old diirk
arter all ; we three kin make a team."

And they did, and one that in after years prac-
tically controlled the little city thai grev up where
sleepy Oakdale now stood.

After breakfast, Stacy started out on a tour of
inspection, first to R' ky Glen Rrook. And now its
small volume in contrast to the Bear Hole stream at
this season again occurred to him. A reservoir was
possible here in the gorge, but in comparison with
the mighty power and capacity of one in the Bear
Hole Swam" valley, a mere pigmy !

His next move was to climb the hill west of that
and survty its area. And now looking over that
and recalling stage-driver Uncle Levi's past asser-
tion that " Natur had riz hills all 'round on pur-
pose fer a dam," Stacy realized its force.

" Here is the place for our reservoir," be declared,
after a long look around, then down the valley to the
bordering ocean, " and alongside the valley with a
canal above is wliere factories must be put up and
save Oakdale for residences. This is and must be
the inevitable outcome and plan of my city, for

:^T"«i8!5aK:';_..

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

279

reservoir space, volume of water, and location all
force it.

" Ily Jove, they do without question! " he added,
after another long look around. " ..d there is
timber enough in that swamp to build a thousand
houses 1 "

And just nf the deed of this unquestionable site
whose valui might soar into tens of thousands of
dollars was in the name of Leon Otero, backed by
the most unprincipled sharper in New York City 1

" I've got to get possession of tha* grant ; it's a
CISC of woodchuck now! " Stacy again asserted, re-
calling this fact. " Got to twiat Curtis North, or
my city collapses !

" I'm afraid I've made the mistake of my life," he
continued, starting down through the undergrowth
toward the village again, " by putting up the scheme
(0 save Uncle Asa and a paltry four thousand dol-
lars. If ever Curtis North realizes or guesses my
plans, fifty, no, a hundred thousand dollars won't
buy it back unless it's to save his neck ! "

And just then Jim Harkins, Rawhide, and the
Passaic Reclaiming Company flashed into Stacy's
mind.

He dined once more, served by the gum-chewing
Norah, and this time two of that omnipresent genus
" ye drummer " were also being entertained.

I- I

380 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" Is it an omen, or advance guard of commerce? "
thought Stacy, sizing thcni up by sidewise glances.
Then, hurrying through his meal, he started down
towards Maple Dell and to Uncle Asa's boathousc.
To his surprise and gratification, also, on nearing
it he saw Hazel seated beside it and Uncle Af 'n
his boat, both apparently awaiting him. She a se
iieedily as he came down the narrow walk, smiled,
extended her hand, and a " How do you do, Mr.
Whipple, I am very glad to see you again," was his
greeting.

And just then Stacy's heart gave an unusual throb
of satisfaction also.

" I am not going to intrude on you and father this
aftmioon," she added, after Stacy's expression of
pleasure in again meeting her. " Only I wanted to
thank you as soon as possible for the beautiful gifts
you - ave remembered me with, and invite you to
tea. I can't promise strawberry shortcake again,
however."

" Your smiles and yourself are enou- 1," he re-
.uined gallantly. "I assu • you that I ave been
count i'g the days till I could see you again."

" I tliink you were very unkind not to come in last
evening," she responded archly. " Were you bash-
ful?"

■.i3.f.'^£i^mim^si^^:xBLaaaBX^':jsEB^:^LiM.

X srai

THE CASTLK BUILDERS

381

" Yes, that was tlie reason," smiling once more,
" and tlien I didn't want to intrude."

" Well, don't let it liappvn again," glancing at
Uncle Asa, patiently awaiting his passenger, " and
come back early. Our tea will be read' at six-
thirty."

And this was Stacy's reception by the elusive
Hazel after so long an interim, and a more cordial
one than he had hoped for, though not one he might
presume upon, however, as he knew full well.

And then, with the tide at half ebb and running
strong, they made good time down the winding
rreek, and in less than an hour were tossing upon the
ocean billows while Uncle Asa pulled his pots. He
only drew a dozen of the nearest ones, secured per-
haps twenty lobsters of legal size, then rowed back
inside the small harbor, pitched his catch into a
floating car, and pulled up to the oltl wharf.

'' We'll jist set down fer an hour or so," he then
said, leading the way up to the little grove, " 'n' hev
a smoke talk, 'n' go back so not to keep the wimmin
waitin'."

And Stacy, reading this genial Uncle Asa aright,
knew that to bring Hazel and himself together as
much and as often as possible was now his sole
thought and plan.

,'>J|

'^-'\:-r '.'SSM' 2l'>'^ i^«,'«i7ilf:i^Sf. "-? *r:5*;'».'"'

282

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And Stacy was quite willing!

" Well, Uncle Asa," he began, after the two were
seated with cigar and cob pipe alight — Uncle Asa
had refused Stacy's proffered cigar — " I promised
you a story of interest and you shall have it now.
To begin, your friend, Curtis North, alias Pentecost
Curtis, is an escaped murderer, and now in New
York engineering another swindle much like the one
he duped you with, and the sheriff of Rawhide is
readj- and anxious to take him back and swing him
up! "

" Good Lord ! " gasped Uncle Asa, scarce grasp-
ing all this. " How'd ye find all thai out, 'n' is this
little Otero, mixed in ? "

" Very much so," Stacy returned assuringly, " in
fact, equally guilty in law, and as likely to swing for
it." And then he began at the beginning of this
astounding discovery and told the story of his visit
to Rawhide, what he had learned there, and what his
plans and expectations were in full.

" I may want to take you to New York," he con-
cluded, "to identify and help scare this Curtis
North, also Otero, into signing a deed of Bear Hole
Swamp that I want, and then if all works well, Ilar-
kins, anntlier officer or two, and this Tygson will
walk in upon Curtis & ("omi)any and take them back

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

283

to Rawhide! What will then happen to tliem I'll
leave you to guess ! "

" Oh, Lordy, Lordy, this seems too good to turn
out so," exclaimed Uncle Asa with a shout. " 'n',"
with an admiring look at Stacy, " yew sartinly are a
wizard o' the fust water to ketch them two devils,
ef ye do! "

" Well, I mean to," asserted Stacy modestly,
" and soon, too, within a month. I just ran up here
to look things over, call on you and Hazel, stay a
day or two, then I'm off to finish matters if I can.
I've got to prepare a write-up of both the Rau-liide
swindle and this new one of ' his whiskers.' make
photograpliic copies of his picture, the watch fob,
his signature as Curtis North on your mine cer-
tificate, and as Pentecost Curtis on the Barre Hotel
register, also one of these Passaic bonds, these of
course to be duplicated. And when I have this gun
loaded, I shall wire Hawkins to bring Tygson to
New York, tlicn coine here for a day's visit and take
you on to help and see the fun. I've a faint idea
that when Curtis North sees us four and glances at
my write-up, he may wilt, 'jist a trillc,' as you
would put it I Eh, Uncle Asa ? "

" Yew bet he will." shouted Uncle Asa, exploding
in laughter, " 'n' by hokey. I'll ask him if he won't

;li

i. ■:

rik

2S4

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

lead us in prayer arter tlie deed is signed, same's he
did here at the mectin's! " And that keen humor-
ist, quick to see the funny side of everything,
laughed until tears almost came.

" 'N' ef he ain't feelin' in jist the mood for
prayin'," he added, chuckling, " I'll ask him ef he
won't jist sing one verse o' ' The Sweet Bye 'n' Bye '
to kinder prepare his mind fer Rawhide 'n' the cere-
monies thar, I will, by cr':ky!"

" We must be slow and careful in this matter."
cautioned the more serious Stacy. " You mustn't
hint what I've told you, not even to Hazel as yet,
for it might get back to Barre through her friends.
One of the Committee knows this Otero, and not
until I've got this Bear Hole deeded back and Curtis
North taken must a soul in Oakdale know what's
afoot. Is Squire Phinney one who can keep a
secret if he is paid to do so? "

" He is, sartinly," returned Uncle Asa assur-
ingly, " ef thar's a dollar in it, yew bet, fer the
Squire likes 'em better'n any man in Oakdale 'n' he's
got more, too ! He's the richest man here."

" Well. I can fix him tlien," complacently, " for
I must obtain a copy of the Bear Hole deed when I
come back after you.

" And now. Uncle Asa," he continued after a
pause, " I have another matter to discuss with

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

28s

you. If all my plans work out right, how would
you like to go into partnership with Sam Gates and
myself in a land speculation here? I have made up
my mind that Bear Hole Swamp is, after all, the
best site for a reservoir. Once a dam is up and
such a magnificent power ready at hand and known
abroad, capital will rush to Oakdale; this harbor
deepened, land for factories will be in sharp de-
mand, anr' we three can manipulate matters as we
see fit.

" I have, or can obtain capital enough to buy half
of Oakdale at present valuation; all you need put
in is your experience and good horse sense."

" I'll do anything ye want o' me, 'n' dern glad
to," Uncle Asa assured him with a twinkle in his
eye, " but ez fer my boss sense — wal, figgerin' on
the showin' I've made the last few years, ye must
think I need a keeper? I've seen days arter
broodin' over that mine stock 'n' smartin' fron
Martha's sassin', when the only thing I felt like
doin' war, go to some deep hole in th ■ crick, say
' Here goes nothin',' 'n' jump in ! I guess I'd 'a'
done it, too, ef 'twan't fer Hazel."

" But you landed that wily Otero," responded
Stacy assuringly, " and I have faith in you. No
stupid could have bluffed him as you did." Then
he began a further elaboration of his plans for city

286

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

\»l

building, where streets must be laid out and inter-
sect, a canal constructed along the hillside, where
factories should be put up to use this power, and
how in due time a small tleet of coasters would be
anchored in this secure harbor not ten rods from
where they now sat!

Then Uncle Asa, who had I'stened attentively to
this astounding revelation, spoke up. " Mr. Whip-
ple," he said, " ef yew hain't got the greatest think-
out thinker in ycwr attic I ever hecrd on. I'm a goat !
Why, ye're jist startin' with a dam up back o' my
house 'n' grindin' out a whole city full o' people!
Talk about tlie feller in one o' Hazel's books who
rubbed the lamp 'n' got anything he wanted — wal,
he ain't in it a minnit with yew, he ain't. A.11 yew
got to do is to rub yer head, 'n' a hull city sprouts
up! "

" I don't wish and won't allow your quaint old
house or Maple Dell to be disturbed," asserted
Stacy, smiling at Uncle Asa's compliment, and castle
building again. " It is too picturesque and secluded
a nook for that. I'd like to build a miniature cas-
cade leaping into a small pond in the brook in front
of the hou.<:e to keep trout in, however, with rustic
seats and swans to add charm. I think I shall make
a trout preserve of the Rocky Glen gorge, also, and
as Hazel's old sclioolhouse will be out of date then.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

287

I'll set it up in a grove overlooking that for a kind of
summer house."

" Ye're figgerin' on livin' here, too, I cal'late,"
interrupted Uncle Asa anxiously. " I hope so, any-
way." Then he sighed as tlie magnitude and con-
ception of all these changes and obliteration of old
landmarks forced itself upon him. " I wish you
would come 'n' live here," he continued, " fer you'll
sartinly be the hull thing then? "

" Well, that depends," returned Stacy musingly,
and after a long pause. " I have no fixed plans for
myself in the future, but — if a certain cool and
sagacious little lady I know became interested in me
and my new city, I might decide to make it my
home."

Then Uncle Asa smiled contentedly.

" I cal'late she will ef she's o' the same mind ez
her old dad," he said.

" Curis, curis, how things come about," he added
reflectively, " 'n' now, Mr. Whipple, I'm goin' to
tell ye suthin mebbe ye don't understand. When ye
fust showed up outen that swamp, razood some but
still gimpy, I took to ye on sight. I did more th:.
next day 'n' the next, seein' how kinder philosophic
ynu took the way them gals desarted ye on the
beach. But Hazel didn't. She s'pected from the
start ye war 'nother Curtis Norih here to skin me."

■ a

388

THE CASTLE BUTVDERS

" I knew it ; have known it all along," interrupted
Stacy smiling, " but I didn't mind that. What a
man is, will become known sooner or later whether
he wills it or not. No man can conceal himself for
long."

" 'N' ye noticed, too," continued Uncle Asa, un-
heeding this and smiling, " how Hazel come down to
the boathouse jist to meet ye? I didn't ask her to,
jist said you 'n' I war goin' down the crick this
afternoon, 'n' — wal, that gal kep' an' eye on me
every niinnit arter that, 'n' when I started she war
at my heels like a cat ! You kin bet she's figgered
yew out all right by now, ef she is my gal."

Then Stacy, glancing out over and far up the lone
and lonely shore upon which a long line of inroUing
billows w:. beating in solemn monotone, smiled con-
tentedly at this consoling assurance. He had never
doubted but that it would come in due time ; now it
had come, and the way was open for a fair and
manly assault upon the citadel of Hazel's heart !

" I think we'd best be starting back," he said,
consulting his watch after a long five minutes of
this pleasant retrospection, during which Uncle Asa
watched him curiously. " We mustn't keep Miss
Hazel's tea waiting."

" I think so, too," assented Uncle Asa, rising
speedily, " 'n' we'll start right now."

■.' .^: t

CHAPTER XXIV

SEVERAL times during his two months' trip
westward with its frequent recollections of
Hazel, Stacy had made mental contrast of the
two meals partaken of at her home — the first a
charming tete-a-tete one with her as combined serv-
ing maid and hostess, the second a ceremonious
affair made uncomfortable by Martha's absurd and
clumsy flatteries — so that now on returning with
Uncle Asa to be on time for a third one, he felt
both curious and uncertain as to how it would pass
ofif. Also what manner of person this new house-
keeper would prove to be.

" Things are a trifle mixed at the house now,"
Uncle Asa had assured him on leaving the boathouse,
" 'n' Aunt Sally, that I told ye 'bout, ain't quite
sartin yit jist what is 'spected of her. Hazel is the
boss, ez I want her to be, but Aunt Sally has notions
'n' perty sot in 'em ; so ye see it takes time for them
two to git "malgamated, so to speak. Yew won't
mind it, though, fer both on 'em'U fee! you're im-
portant company."

To be so considered was not to Stacy's liking,
289

290 THE CASTLF, BUILDERS

however, just now. He much preferred to be ac-
cepted as one of the family, with Hazel as hostess.
He had no occasion to fear annoyance, though, as
the sequel proved, or aught to make his anticipated
meal and evening anytliing but charming.

To begin with, the maples that embowered Uncle
Asa's ancient and picturesque abode were a golden,
glowing mass of foliage in the sunset light as Stacy
walked up tlie lane, with here and there a cluster of
scarlet leaves to accentuate the yellow. The arbor-
vita hedge enclosing the dooryard was of vivid
green, the flower beds within were flashes of bright
color, and each added a softening, chastening effect
to the old brown dwelling, half hid by the two
monster lilac shrubs.

" Yew go right into the front door," Uncle Asa
directed as the yard's gate was reached, " 'n' I'll go
'round to the kitchen." And so doing, the crowning
touch of color was added in Hazel herself, who —
evidently on watch and clad in a rose-hued gown —
opened that door to meet and greet the arriving
guest.

" I am glad to see you so punctual," she said,
smiling her welcome with a gracious bow. " Walk
in, and we will await tea in the parlor. Allow me
to take your hat."

And just then Stacy felt sure that his face and

l|i

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 291

hands needed soap and water, and that his hair must
be awry.

" It has seemed quite a long time since you were
liere," she added, after his greeting, and t)oth were
seated. " How long is it ? "

" Just two months and eight days," he returned
after a moment's thought. "I was last here on
June twenty-sixth."

" And summer has almost passed since then, and
I'm so sorry for I dislike the melancholy days, and
Nature's demise with dread of winter just ahead."

" So do I," he responded briskly, " only we in the
whirl of city life don't notice it as much. To me,
an autunm day's outing in the country is a rare treat,
and always eagerly anticipated."

" Of course because it's a change," with a slight
sigh, "but if you were forced to watch the falling
leaves day after day alone, you would feel other-
wise. But"— smiling again— "tell me, please,
why you were so — so ungracious last evening
when, as I assume, you came down to call on me
and didn't ? "

" Bashfulness pure and simple, especially simple,"
he admitted, also smiling, " and fear that I should
spoil the good time you were having. I obtained
the best of it, however, for let me assure you your
singing, heard from outside, was charming."

29a THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" I shall excuse you on the score of bashfulness,
then," flushing at this obvious compliment, " and
trust you may overcome it in the future." And just
then a tall, angular, and severe-faced lady, slightly
gray, entered the parlor, bowed graciously to Stacy,
and said, " Our tea is ready, Miss Hazel," with nod
to her.

"This is Miss Perkins, our Aunt Sally, Mr.
Whipple," said Hazel, rising and tiuis introducing
them, before leading the way into the dining-room.
Halting at the seat designated for him by Hazel,
Stacy now noticed that a new and more modern din-
ing-table and chairs had replaced the old ones, also
that there was a pretty and daintily decorated din-
ner set, and a rug in place of the old, faded rag car-
pet while this Aunt Sally's very ceremonious and
deferential, if austere, manner was in pleasing con-
trast to the red-headed personage who had flattered
him so nauseatingly. Uncle Asa came in the next
moment, so jlianged in garb that Stacy scarcely
knew him. He wore a well-fitting business suit of
gray, a turndown collar and pretty four-in-hand tie
instead of the high one and stock of a former oc-
casion, and looked ten years younger by the change.
" It's Hazel's doings," thouglit Stacy, and then the
meal began.

.\nd now Hazel, conscious no doubt (as Stacy

THE castlp: builders

293

imagined J that their household chanj;e would make
him feel ill at ease, and yet was one he could not
question, sliowed her charming tact at once.

" I have been so anxious to hear about your
western trip, Mr. Whipple," she began with the
[Kjuriiig of the tea, " that I can hardly wait for its
telling. I am interestctl in that wonderful country,
especially its grand mountains and beautiful scenery,
as you may recall, and now won't you please tell us
all about it ?

" Everything," she add^d, smiling encouragement.
" no matter what! Indians, if you met any; cow-
boys shooting up a town, a train holdup, if one hap-
pened to you — all will be welcome and new to us."

And thus encouraged and inspired — as well as
might be by this charming hostess — Stacy, a
fluent talker, began at once and between times for
an hour, while the tea biscuit, cold chicken, quince
sauce, and other delicacies were passed, that trio
heard a concise yet well-told tale of all he had seen
or heard during that two months' journey. He
even touched upon Rawhide and its marvelous
growth and, to add humor, described McCue and
quoted his laughable comments upon lynchings,
shootings, and the fun the " b'ys had in the ould
toimes, begorra ! "

All reference to Curtis North was omitted for

a94

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

obvious reasons, however, and when the meal, or its
last item — delicious home-grown peaches and pears
— was disposed of, Hazel arose, led the way back to
the p.irlor, lit the lamps, and for the first time since
that one charming hour on the porch two months
previous, Stacy was alone with her.

And just now, in tlie soft glow of these shaded
lights and garbed as she was in rose-tinted raiment,
her cheeks akin to one of tlic peaches he had just
devoured, "eyes dancing, lips entrancing" — well,
suffice it to say that it now dawned on Stacy Whip-
ple (erstwhile cynical bachelor) that nowhere in the
wide world had he ever met or was likely to meet
again, so beautiful and charming a maid! More
than that, so enamored was he by this time, that only
his cool good sense and command of himself pre-
vented a rash and quite premature assertion of that
fact.

" Do you know. Miss Webster," he s.iid instead,
and after they were seated again, " that I have re-
called your Maple Dell, yourself, and this quaint old
home of yours countless times since I've been away ?
Also, and even oftener, the first time I saw you
under the pine tree and that ghost music I heard
before I knew its source? You may think it's
funny, but every time I do so recall that first vision

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

295

of you, I bcRin huinmiiif; or whistling, ' Don't you
hear dem bells a-ringing? '."

" It is funny," slic answered, " also proof conclu-
sive that you are amenable to the fear of ghosts.
You thought it was spook music you heard that day
in the woods, so the scare has kept you humming it
ever since."

" I'm willing to allow that," he admitted, smiling
at her telltale flush, " also that spooks do now and
then materialize into charming maidens who play the
auto-harp and frighten easily."

" And run away from mud-covered ogres," she
interrupted, " for you were a sight to behold that
day and " — laugliing now — " all that kept me from
fainting was the faith that I could run faster than
you and so escape."

" I guess you ran in ranre than one sense," with
an admiring glance, " but I shall not allow it if I
can help it, you may be sure." Then desiring to
tease her he added, " By the way, who was the
exquisite I saw enjoying a cigarette in the hammock
with you that day two months ago? He certainly
wasn't an Oakdale product."

" Oh, that's Arthur Penrose from Barre " — in-
differently —" a cousin of Molly Bascom's. I met
liira there two or three winters ago, I think."

296

THE CASTLIC BUILDERS

"And visiting her again, I assume?" Stacy in-
quired, watching Hazel's face. " 1 thought I saw
them both here last evening? "

" They were here," she answered with cool au-
dacity, " and he is one of my ardent admirers, quite
devoted ; in fact, here almost every evening, and "
— smiling saucily — " I wouldn't be surprised if he
called to-night."

And then Stacy realized that his teasing plan had
met with failure.

" I hope not," he rejoined bluntly ; " I don't want
the second evening I've had with you spoiled that
way, for I should imagine he'd want to murder me
if he so admires you."

" You wouldn't mind, would you "— with a light
laugh — " you are used to meeting bloodthirsty men,
aren't you? "

And as if to pay him back for his attempt at teas-
ing, she added, " if he calls, you can retreat to the
huhvark of the grindstone again, perhaps, and so
feel safe."

" Possibly," answered Stacy, also laughing, " if I
am struck with instant idiocy — not otherwise."
Then and with a dare-all impulse he continued, " No
fellow who can't win a girl with two years to try in,
can scare me away ! "

And then this one recalled her father's assertion

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 297

that Stacy " wa'n't a mite skt -rpd o' a little gal like
her," with tingling nerve ind sei-,=-> 1 ' admiration.

And it must be asserte 1. if he had xen timid, or
shown it in this skirmish • : vorls, l.e would have
lost ground with her. Like all petite women of
keen intellect, the one man most likely to win her
was a big one of dauntless courage. She might
tease him, exasperate him, defy him, doubtless
would; but if he won her (as Stacy now meant to
win her) he must now and then (metaphorically
speaking) grasp her and shake her as a big terrier
would a small rodent.

" I hope you don't really think it was bashfulness
that led me to hide behind the grindstone last night,"
Stacy continued after a pause, " for I assure you it
was not ; only a fear that my calling might seem an
intrusion by you, especially as I hadn't been in-
vited."

" I certainly do," she responded in the same ban-
tering tone, " and now that you deny it so vehe-
mently I am positive you couldn't have been forced
to come in at the point of a pistol ! But I must ex-
cuse you. Mr. Penrose is a dangerous man."

" Very," ventured Stacy with a tinge of sarcasm,
" especially if he stormed a powder mill with his
favorite weapon, a lighted cigarette. Not other-
wise."

jii

-I:

I'i'.

■i

298

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

■' Vou don't admire cigarettes, I assume " — iron-
ically — " don't you smoke them? "

Then Stacy smiled at this cool, audacious maid in
calm serenity, quite sure he read her aright. Also
her indifference to Arthur Penrose.

" Oh, yes, I admire them if on the windward side, '
he returned suavely, " or at long range. I can't say
that I do if they happen to be in a hammock with a
certain saucy young lady I have the honor of know-
ing, however — in the vernacular, that is different."

And just then as if fortunately to end what might
have become a personal discussion. Uncle Asa came
in with a basket of white birch wood and kindlings.

" I think I best start a leetle fire," he said, going
about it. " It sorter takes the chill off, 'n' is more
cheerful.

" A fire is a sorter inspirer o' pleasant thoughts,"
he continued, addressing no one in particular and
lighting a scrap of birch bark, " a kind o' sociable
friend you kin talk to if lonesum. I used to go
campin' down on the shore," he added, now seating
himself and turning to Stacy, " jist fer the comfort
o' watchin' a fire o' driftwood 'n' hearin' the waves
a-boomin'. Somehow, thar 'n' then a fire is the
tiiost consolin' thing on arth, 'n' more so than in the
woods. It's pleasant thar, o' course, but on the
shore its light 'n' cracklin' is like a human speerit

&'*»'' J

THE C. .STLE BUILDERS

299

tryin' to be heard. 'N' then the waves! It's
s'prisin' jist then, 'n' dark all round, only the fire
goin', how many kinds o' voices you kin hear in the
waves. You kin hear children laughin' 'n' cryin',
wimmen, too, 'n' men yellin' 'n' howlin' ! You kin
hear bulls bellowin', wild cats howlin', pigs squcalin",
Iiciis cacklin' ; all sorts o' voices, 'n' sometimes wim-
men sobbin' like their hearts wuz breakin'.

" I know a nice spot to camp in, Mr. Whipple,"
he suggested after a pause, " a sorter pocket to the
right o' whar our table stands. I've got two tents, 'n'
what do ye say while yew're here to us fakin' Hazel
'n' Aunt Sally 'long 'n' campin' jist one night ez a
sorter lark? Hazel kin take her banjo 'long, 'n'
the moon's jist right? What do ye say. Hazel?
Will ye go?"

"Why, yes, of cot she smiled. "I'll go

anywliere you say, fataer, and do anything you
wish. And such a trip would be very jolly. Only "
— pausing — "maybe we had better take Jennie
Oaks and Molly instead of Aunt Sally. I think
they'd enjoy it better. And Bertha Phinney, too,"
she added, smihng saucily at Stacy; " she took quite
a liking to you, Mr. Whipple, and would be pleased
to meet you afjain."

" And I shall feel honored by any lady friend of
yours wishing to meet me," returned Stncy in the

300

THE CASTLE BUII-DERS

'H i-

same bantering tone, " and I sliall not only be g'ad
to go and be useful, but say all the sweet things I
can think of to Miss Phinney."

" Wal, yew two sartinly don't need no more
coaxin'," asserted Uncle Asa, " 'n' let's say we go
day arter to-morrer. I want one diy to go down
'n' set up the tents."

" And I'll go and help you," put in Stacy; then
smiling at Hazel, added, " all the music I've heard
for two long months, Miss Webster, was surrepti-
tiously obtained last evening. Now, will you favor
me personally? "

And favor him she did for one delightful hour
and with a repertoire of songs ranging from old-
time ballads to the modern classic ones that aston-
ished him ! He had sent her a hit-or-miss colle..ion
of arrangements for both banjo and auto-harp, with
a few popular ballads; or.Iy one of which she now
rendered, and it is needless to say that he now felt
conscious of his own lack of musical knowledge,
thus proved.

;^'it he was wise enough to make no mention
ii.^reof or ask why she apparently found them of no
value.

But Hazel made amends, as was her nature, and
soon after she ended her charming concert.

" You mustn't think I do not appreciate your

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

301

lavish gift of so much music, Mr. Whipple," she
then explained, " for I do, and it was very kind and
thoughtful of you to send it. Only I have had
scarcely time since it came to more than look it over
and select one gem."

And Stacy, knowing what had happened to this
household, felt relieved.

" I'll be on hand any time you say to-morrow,
Uncle Asa," Stacy declared when rising to depart,
" and as the evenings are just right for a campfire
and moon also, we mr-'t have a jolly time."

" I think so, too," added Hazel, with cordial
smile, " and to-morrow Aunt Sally and I will cook
all sorts of good things to take with us."

And when Stacy walked down the lane after pro-
fuse thanks for the evening he had so enjoyed.
Uncle Asa seemed to him what he was, one of
Nature's noblemen, brimming with love for all that
was good and true in humanity, and Hazel the
rarest, most tactful, charming, piquant and sweet
girl ever created for man's care and protection.

And the one instant's tingle of her little hand in
his proffered one at departure, lasted him all the
way back to the hotel.

" In love ? " you ask again. That needs no as-
sertion.

iff

CHAPTER XXV

m m

A LETTER from Colby awaiting Stacy at
the hotel that night on his return from
Uncle Asa's quite put the charming Hazel
out of his mind, however, for the time being, and
set him to thinking.

Briefly stated, it was to the effect that he had
better make haste to decide upon the site most de-
sirable for their dam, and to wire for the two enf^i-
neers to come on and survey it. Another letter
enclosed with this from Davis, chairman of the
Barre Committee, also informed him of what he
already knew, namely, that a party named Otero
had bought what he (Davis) supposed was the best
location for a dam, etc., etc.

" It might be advisable for you to visit Barre be-
fore returning," Colby had added, " and pacify this
Committee. While we have now twenty-two
months in which to complete contract, we shall need
to get busy."

And Curtis Xortli, alias P. Curtis, was yet to be
reckoned with !

302

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 303

For an Iiour now after reading these urgent let-

ters, Stacy sat in his room smoking fiercely, while

planning how best and how soon he could solve this

problem, obtain po=sc5sion of Bear Hole Swamp,

start Curtis North and pal towards Rawhide and

well-merited punishment, begin the building of the

dam, and take the first steps towards his intended

city.

" I am almost sorry I promised to join Uncle

Asa's camping-out plan," he said to himself now,
"but can't back out and don't want to either.

What an idyllic and romantic old fellow he is,

after all, to go camping on the beach just to watch

a fire and hear wave voices. If Hazel has in-

herited it, she will be doubly charming."

When breakfast was over, Stacy presented him-

self to Squire Phinney to make the first move in

this complex plan.

"I am," he then said to that worthy after in-
troducing himself, " planning to buy back the Bear

Hole Swam;) property recently sold by Uncle As?.

^Vebster to one Leon Otero, and in the name of his

daughter Hazel. I want you to fill out a warranty

deed of it in Otero's name to her by to-night, for
which I will pay you. In return, also, and if you

will promise me absolute secrecy in the matter, I
will, later on, give you information that will en.able

i:-

" ■ ?' -tj -i^

^^^^^

304

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

you to buy sonic land and double your money on it
in the near future."

And then Squire Phinney, Iteen to Oakdale's af-
fairs, a shrewd Yank^'e ever on watch to make a
dollar and keeping most of all he got, took off his
spectacles, wiped them, put thetn on again, and
stared at Stacy while his eyes twinkled.

" We heered 'bout ye, Mr. Whipple, heered a
hull lot, 'n' I'm glad to see ye," he said. " 'N'
I'm glad ye'cr going to git Uncle Asa's land back,
too. He got 'n' ungodly price fer't, though, ez I
s'pose ye know, but I didn't like the little weasel he
sold it to. I'll fill ye out the deed to-day, 'n' keep
mum ez ye wish, 'n' twon't cost ye but fifty cents fcr
it." Then he adjusted his spectacles again, leaned
back in his chair, and surveyed Stacy once more
with smiling admiration.

" Be you," he queried the next moment, while
his mouth twitched, " be you goin' tew — tew give
Hazel this land, Mr. Whipple? 'Scuse me fer
askin', but o' course if it's deeded to her, it's hern.
Mebbe you're cal'latin' to marry her, though ! "

And then Stacy exploded in a burst of laughter
at this Yankeeism.

" If I ever ask and obtain her consent to that im-
portant step I'll tell you right away. Squire," he

'Mkhkk Yor'itK cai/i.atix' to mahkv ukr. tihugiiI"

!l;

! >

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

305

said, and laughing again he bade this Yankee good
morning and left his office.

" I'll bet two to one you don't keep your promise
about the deed," he asserted to himself after leav-
ing the Squire's office, " yes, ten to one, for a
Yankee with such curiosity positively couldn't do
so ! ' Cal'Iatin' to marry Hazel, mebbe ! ' Well, I
am if I can," and then, as the humor of it returned,
Stacy laughed again.

And he was right in his surmises, for not an hour
had elapsed after Stacy had bade the Squire good
morning ere that inquisitive Yankee, first exacting
a solemn promise from his wife not to tell, told her,
she in turn did the same by their only daughter.
Bertha, and latT that day when Hazel came to in-
vite her to the camping-out party, she also was in-
formed in an awed whisper that a deed of Bear
Hole Swamn would be presented her in the near
future.

" Maybe he intends it for a wedding present,"
added Bertha, smiling with admiration, " for his
sending you the two presents he has must mean
something," whereupon the aforesaid Hazel blusned
crimson, for she had never admitted receiving these
gifts to anyone — not even to her father.

How the arrival of them was known by Bertha

;t.

306

THE CASTLIC BUILDERS

i I

can easily l)c ptiessod from the fact that her intimate
fritiul, Molly Bascom, sorted all arriving mail in
Bascoin's store and [wst office combined, and Uncle
Levi, who brought the express package of books
and music, was never known to keep a secret longer
tlian was required to find someone to tell it to.
hurrying at that!

But forewarned was forearmed with Hazel ! She
now knew (as every daughter of Motlier Eve does
know long beforehand) that this bold fellow was
fast falliTig in love with her ; and that, in due time, he
would propose marriage.

" It will be ' no ' " she said to herself very de-
cidedly on her way liotnc -from Bertlia's. " No,
positively no! I will not leave poor dear old dad
with only Aunt Sally to care for him. never!
never! But what docs he mean by this deed? To
l)uy me. is it?" And then the high-spirited Hazel
tossed her head in a way that boded ill for Stacy.

And at that very moment the said .'irch-plfjlter
(according to Hazel) was steering Uncle Asa's big
dory down the creek, with him at the oars, and in
it were two tents and poles, two filled bed-ticks,
and one empty one, and blankets, sheets, and pillows
— all taken from bis home. Also minor needs for
camping, enough to fill the boat.

" We've got a lot to do, my boy," asserted Uncle

THK CASTLIi liUII.DEKS

307

Asa, thus addressing Stacy for the first time, as he
pulled up to the little old wharf, " 'n' none too much
time," then leaped out, as niiuhlc as a 1)oy, made the
boat fast, and bejjan unloailiiij;. Stacy, of course,
assisted with eagerness, and in less than an hour
the tents were set up within a sheltering sedge-
topped nook between the sand dunes, sea grass cut
and spread for carpet in them, old sails laid over
that, Ik'iIs and blankets put inside, and then Uncle
Asa began to sliovel sand over the base edge of
the tents.

" We've got to make them gals comf'table, you
know," he said, pausing to pat the sand down with
his shovel and smiling at Stacy, " ' peshly Hazel.
Yew think Tm boyish, niebbe, 'n' I s'pose I am,"
he added in half apology, " but I thought a heap
o' that gal's mother; she's grown up to look 'n' be
'zactly like her, perfect picter, in fact, every time
I look at her, 'n' " — sifjhing— " takin' her 'round
'n' doin' fcr 'cr sorter makes me feel like I was
cour'iii' afji.i. She begun taggin' me soon ez she
could toddle, I've carried her pig-a-back more
miles'n she's weeks old, 'n' we've kept taggin' each
other ever sence, 'n' now ye kin see why I felt the
way I did 'bout that money. I jist liain't got
nothin' nor nobody to live fer 'cept Hazel."

" So I have observed," returned Stacv, touched

V fl

308

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

by the curious pathos of this admission, " and your
daughter is well worth all the love you lavish on
her. I don't think you boyish, only an unusually
affectionate father."

" It's curis 'bout our feelin's, ain't it? " Uncle Asa
continued without response to Stacy's assertion, " 'n'
how they're the injine that keeps us goin' 'n' doin'.
I worked 'n' scrimped, perfectly willin', to save that
money fer Hazel, 'n' enjoyed doin' it. I keep
plottin' 'n' plannin' some fun fer her, this camp-
out trip was jist fer that, 'n' thar ye be.

" I've biled life down," he added after another
pause, " into 'bout this : in order to be happy, you've
got to hev three things : suthin to do, suthin to love,
'n' suthin to hope fer. I've got a good deal o'
the fust two, but the last — wal, it's gittin' thinner
day arter day." Then, and as if this were enough
of moralizing, he began shoveling and patting the
sand again.

When the tents were all snug and secure he be-
gan the building of an open fireplace in front, next,
he made an improvised table from the unhinged
door of his fish house, then gathered and piled
handily an ample supply of driftwood.

" We got to dig some clams 'n' bile some lobsters
ready to fry," he next proclaimed, glancing at the
now bare flats. " Likewise steam a mess o' clams

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

309

fer dinner," and again he led the way to accomplish
these needs.

It was ten-thirty when they arrived at this
seldom-visited beach, and two o'clock before the
camp was made ready, and frugal dinner of
steamed clams, coflfee, and bread and butter also
ready. And then these two men, boys in spirit, now
sat down to enjoy their meal and a needed rest.
After this was disposed of. Uncle Asa lit his pipe,
Stacy a cigar, and the former, as was characteristic
of him, began a philosophic disquisition on human
impulses and conclusions that may well be quoted.

" I hev notions 'n' idees 'bout people, Stacy — I
s'pose I might ez well call ye so," he began with,
" that I like to talk 'bout 'n' see ef we agree. Now,
fer instance, we folks here hev ploughed 'n' planted
all our lives 'n' never thought beyond that, 'n' long
yew come, look 'round a little, 'n' discover what not
one o' us ever s'posed possible. I cal'late, too, yewr
city will be here — in time — fer I kin see what a
no-cost power is runnin' to waste in them two
streams. Only we folks didn't see it ez we might
if our foresight had been ekal to our hindsight.
We're livin' way long fifty years back, I cal'late,
too," he added after a pause, " 'n' some on us is
still votin' fer Andrew Jackson. But yew've woke
us up, or will, I guess."

310

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

-P'fei

" Perhaps that's true," smiled Stacy, " and the
wonder to me is that this possibility hadn't been dis-
covered by someone else long ago; it was so self-
evident I I probably shouldn't have done so, how-
ever, if it hadn't been for the needs of Barre and
call from them to furnish power."

" Wal, ye ain't inclined to brag much," asserted
Uncle Asa, " 'n' I like ye all the better fer't.
Braggin' makes a man 'pear more like a fool than
tryin' to lift himself by his boot straps, 'n' counts
'bout ez much. Then agin, most men swar they're
wuth 'bout ten times what they be, 'n' I alius think
if I could buy 'em fer what they're wuth 'n' sell
'em fer what they say, I'd make a stiddy business
on't. I s'pose it's all right, though, 'n' a man kin
crow himself into notice ef he's willin' to wear a
fool's cap ever arter.

" Then agin, thar's goin' to meetin'," he con-
tinued after a pause to relight his pipe. " It's all
right, 'n' I go 'bout once a month, but it's mostly
to hear Hazel singin', howsomever. 'N' when she
does I shut my eyes 'n' I'm sartin it's her mother
up thar in the choir. Ez fer the preachin' — wal,
if 'twan't fer the hope o' heaven 'n' fear o' hell in
us all, our parson'ud be out o' a job middlin' soon.
Wc need preachin', tliough, only I think it orter be
on how to live to-day 'n' help others do right, 'stead

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311

o' makin' us oneasy 'bout the futer. I think if we
do 'bout ez we'd done by 'n' make folks more
cheerful, our souls'll take keer o' themselves) I do!
Ez fer prayin', wal, it's healthy, moral exercise for
those who b'lieve so, but the meanest man I ever
knew said grace over the swill 'fore he fed his pigs,
folks said, so since then I hain't taken much stock
in't. We need to b'lieve in God, though, with so
much cussedness goin' on all 'round, fer if we wa'n't
sartin He ruled the world, we'd be more sartin the
devil did.

" Keerin' for wimmen ez they'd orter be," he
added, " has a good deal to do towards makin' us
men folks better, I often think, 'n' we kin brag all
we please 'bout bein' in the image o' God 'n' all
that sort, but it's my notion 'twas woman's hand
that pulled man up out o' his original cave 'n' made
him a gentleman. Ez fer gittin' a harp, 'n' playin'
that, 'n' smilin' fer all etarnity — wal, I'd rather hev
a fightin' chance to make up with the woman I keer
fer, than do that! Then, too, I'd choose Brimstun
Corner with her ruther'n Harpland without her, I
would, yew bet! My idee is, it's best to

" Live, love, laugh, be happy, 'n' pass it along.
There'll come a day when you'll drap out o' the game."

" I agree with you most emphatically," responclcd
Stacy, thinking of Hazel, " and the love of and care

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THE CASTLE BUILDERS

for a good, affectionate wife is the most uplift-
ing and purifying impulse that comes to us men. I
used to be a scoffer on that point and think other-
wise, but I am fast changing."

Who and what had brought this about may easily
be inferred.

" I'm sartin ye be," declared Uncle Asa, smiling
his satisfaction, " fer I've ben watchin' ye 'n'
studyin' ye out, I'll 'low now. I took to ye at fust,
but trustin' ye — wal, that has to come later, any-
how, ez mine has. Thar's only one thing more I'd
liV-,- to see come," he added after a long pause and
k>.:n glance at Stacy, " 'n' that is yew'd somehow
— ef yewr city is built ez ye cal'late — yew'd make
it yer home. I said that to ye yisterday, 'n' I say
it agin, more meanin'ly. Then ye want to rec'lect
this: ye'd be more to hum 'n' a bigger toad in a
puddle ye dug yerself than in one somebody else
dug, 'n' don't fergit that ! "

" I won't," responded Stacy, smiling at his homely
aphorism, "and as I admitted to you here two
months ago, my future plans will probably be
shaped by those of someone else — who, I'll leave
you to guess."

And so ended this heart-to-hjart exchange.

A few more steps towards the perfecting of his
camping-out plan were next attended to by Uncle

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Asa. The lobsters he had boiled were packed in
a box of ice and placed in the fish house with a
basket of clams, an opening between the sand dunes
back of the tents filled with scrub pines to protect
them from wind, and a carpet of sedge grass
spread in front. Then, as the sun was now well
down, they started homeward on the inflowing tide.

" I'll go up to the house to say ' How do you do '
to Miss Hazel," Stacy admitted when the foot of the
lane was readied. " Also, I want you to let me
have that mine certificate of yours to photograph
the signature of Curtis North from. I must go to
Barre after our camping-out frolic, then on to New
York to load my gun for this swindler; and when
everything is ready I shall want you to come to
Albion and go back there with me to see the fun."

" 'N' I want to, 'n' to see a lot o' squirmin' on
the part o' that villain to even up the worryin' I've
had," rejoined Uncle Asa, quick to grasp Stacy's
plans. " 'N' I'd like to rub it into that little runt
some more 'bout B'ar Hole Swamp 'n' the snakes,"
he added chuckling. " I kin 'most see a hull circus
jist ahead fer me."

" Ye must stay to supper," he declared when the
house was reached, " 'n' spend the evenin', too. I
told Hazel we'd be back in time."

" No, thank you, I'd better not," asserted Stacy in

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

positive tone. " I expect important letters at the
hotel, and will wait outside till you bring me the
certificate."

But Hazel, probably on the watch, soon appeared,
and a " Why, Mr. Whipple, you must come in and
have supper ! " from her came near changing Stacy's
sensible intention not to overdo his welcome. To
his credit, however, he declined even her cordial
invitation with profuse thanks (and lost nothing
by it), and wlien departing, carried away a hastily
gathered bouquet of flowers presented by her.

To him, just now they seemed suggestive of his
easy and enjoyable pathway to her hea''t. He had
forgotten his suspicion that Squire Phinney would
betray him, however, and did not realize that that
fatal deed of Bear Hole Swamp would in due time
torture him even more than its original had done.

i \

CHAPTER XXVI

WITH a warm, bright September day, the
sun softened by an ambient haze, the
wind a mild zephyr, the sea blue, spark-
ling and fringed with prattling wave-wash; also
four bright, vivacious, and pretty girls, not to men-
tion Uncle Asa with his droll optimism, and Stacy
the sole gallant upon that day's outing — well, if
he failed to appreciate his good fortune and enjoy
it all, it was his own fault.

He did not enjoy it, though, as the sequel proved,
or rather it ended in a fit of sulks for him.

Miss Jennie Oaks, almost as keen at repartee as
Hazel, together with the latter, kept his wits work-
ing overtime, however, as the saying goes; Mollie
Bascom, plump and jolly, with Bertha Phinncy, also
rotund and amiable, were one and all conspiring
factors to a rare day of simple country seashore
enjoyment.

They romped on the beach, the girls, having suits.

went in bathing — Stacy, having none, got left in

tliis; they dug clams late- when the tide .served; the

dinner was a feast of sea food cooked by Uncle

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THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Asa, with many delicacies added from their home
by Hazel ; seashells were gathered and wild flowers
to deck tents and table, and when the sun, red
as a ball of fire, was sinking behind the hill tops,
and the evening meal of fried lobster and salad
of the same prepared by Hazel all ready, the gnis,
at least, voted the day so far a great and glorious
success.

Uncle Asa's fire of driftwood, started with the
twilight, came next, the moon rose in red splendor
out of the now motionless ocean, and when blankets
were spread between tents and fire, the party
seated upon them, and Hazel began to tune her
banjo — the only other sounds, except modulated
voices were the crackle of the burning fire and
the low murmur of the near-by ocean.

"This is soothin', comfortin'. 'n' consolin' all in
one," ejaculated Uncle Asa, now seated beside and
leaning against a tent while he smoked and glanced
at the group of smiling faces. " Likewise, ez I
cal'late, 'bout ez near to heaven ez we'll git on
arth," whereupon Hazel gave him a tender glance
that spoke volumes.

" Its romance and happy escape from conven-
tionalities is its best charm to me," responded Stacy,
" or rather its semblance of return to primitive con-
ditions of life."

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

317

" You mean ' the world forgotten and by the
world forgot,' " queried Hazel smilingly, " or is it
the joy of utter isolation that adds that charm? "

" I wouldn't care to be here alone," added the
more matter-of-fact Molly.

" Nor 1," chimed in Bertha. " No all-alones for
me or Robinson Crusoe meditations. I want com-
pany, fun, laughter, and companions."

But conversation among six is usually a dismal
failure, and Hazel, quite conscious of this, soon
picked up her banjo and within five minutes all
the girls were joining in her long list of plantation
ballads, and so the evening passed.

To Stacy, however, the day with its need of ac-
tion, of doing something, was the most enjoyable;
and then, somehow, he, quick to catch others' moods
and emotions, imagined that Hazel's was not in
harmony with his or him. She was charmingly po-
lite and interested in all he said, gave him now and
then the consolation of inferred praise or commen-
dation, played the hostess with her invariable
thought fulness, but beneath all this he suspected
that she still distrusted him, or was chilled from
some unknown source.

This intuition had also kept him from joining in
or attempting to inspire general conversation after
they gathered about the fire, and keenly critical of

t I I

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1 1 1

318

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

the art of polite small talk in others, he saw that it
was all ' ced and stilted. He was not disposed to
sulk, only sure that no one was seriously anxious
to talk, and very glad when Hazel put ai.. end to
it with her banjo and songs. To watch u r supple
lingers skip up and down the strings, or sweep
across them, and her exquisite face and expressive
eyes reflecting the firelight, was of far more in-
terest than exchanging polite phrases with the other
girls, with whom he as yet was scarcely acquainted.

And then he smoked fiercely, steadily, and per-
sistently, cigar after cigar, as was his way when
worried, or thinking out some problem.

By and by, when the evening had grown more
chill, the fire less bright, and Hazel having con-
cluded her songs with " Suvvanee River," and then
fallen to picking the chords of " Mamma's Little
Alabama Coon," he arose, piled more fuel on the
glowing embers, then lay down beside them, intently
watching the uprising flames.

And just then, as Hazel laid her banjo aside, there
came from Uncle Asa's bowed head a faint snore 1

It served as a signal, alsf , for on the instant
Hazel arose with a smiling glance at her father,
up came the othei jirls in one-two-three order,
nodded and whispered good-nights to Stacy, and
vanished into their lent.

?■*:

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

3'9

For another long five minutes Stacy lay where
he was, tl en out from her tent came Hazel, stepped
to where her father sat dozing, stooped and patted
his face. " You must wake up, father," she said,
" and go to bed; you will catch cold." Then, half
lifting him, she led him into his tent.

In a moment she emerged and glanced at Stacy,
still recumbent. " You have not enjoyed this even-
ing overmuch, have you? " she half whispered with
faint smile.

" Oh, yes, fairly well," he returned ; " your sing-
ing especially, and the romance of this spot. About
all I expected. I am like the tramp." he added, after
a pause, " who asserted that a long career of ad-
versity had taught him to hope for everything and
expect nothing."

" An excellent conclusion," she responded, quickly
taking two steps towards her own tent, then halt-
ing, "but — but hadn't you better turn in, too? I
— I am afraid it's lonesome out here."

For a long moment she gazed at him sidewise.
hair curiously, half pleadingly, while he, after one
flash of his imperious eyes at her, turned to the
fire again.

" I wish you would," she added more pleadingly.
"I — I don't feel right to desert you in this way."

Only for another moment did this proud girl

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3»

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

thus proffer the olive branch and await response
in vain, then came a second " good night," and she
vanished into her tent.

"Father was right," she said to herself; "he is
sulky."

And so he was, not intentionally perhaps, yet hurt
by the continued cool indiff-ri i.cc of this girl he
had planned and plotted so much for. He knew
that she now realized that the rescue of her heritage
from the swindler was entirely from his personal
thought anr' ffort. He had not expected thanks —
as yet. 'lad not even wished for them, or any men-
t'or - ■ what he had done. Only he had expected
tK ;it jometime during the day — a day he had prac-
tically stolen from pressing business needs — she
would have shown him a trifle of gratitude, or wish
for his happiness beyond ordinary, conventional po-
liteness — just once!

She had been gay, jolly, full of good spirits and
humor; played hostess at both meals in gracious
manner, sang a long list of plantation songs and
ballads without urging, shown the tendercst filial de-
votion to her father, and — polite coolness to him !

And just now with the moon sailing high over-
head, the low monotone of the ocean not five rods
away, the fire a mere glow of dying embers, and
the only other sound, except the persistent wave-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

321

wash, an occasional call from some marsh bird,
Stacy felt akin to the solitude and loneliness of his
surroundings.

" It can't be helped." he said '" himself philosoph-
ically, after a long resume of the day's disappoint-
ments. " If a woman will, she will, and if she
won't, she won't, and that's the end on't, ns the
old rhyme says. It may be. too. that this feeling
of obligation begins to gall her. It works that way
sometimes. Or perhaps she imagines that I prac-
tically expect her to ofTer herself as payment for
what I've done! There is no telling how a girl
of her spirit will interpret any m.in's actions. I
guess I had better keep away from Oakdale another
month. Miss Hazel Iceberg, and let you see I am
not expecting anything — not even friendship!"

All of which must be accepted as proof conclusive
that Stacy was what Hazel had thought him —
sulky. Also blessed with a correct conception of
how she felt towards him.

And that fit of pique, that hour of lonely night
meditation with only the ocean's voice, and a dying
fire for consolation, so impressed him, so convinced
him of the wisdom of keeping away from the cool,
piquant Hazel for a time at least, that he now
determined to do so — and did until circumstances
forced another meeting.

333

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And just now, so sore at heart was he and so
little in the mood for sleep, that he heaped more
fuel on the fire, pulled a blanket out from the tent
where Uncle Asa was contentedly snoring, wrapped
himself in it, lit another cigar and hugged his fit of
sulks until midnight, then turned in.

He didn't know, fortunately, that Hazel remained
wide awake during that almost two-hour vigil, that
she twice peeped out to see him prone beside the
fire, and that not until she heard him enter his tent
did sleep come to her; also was perfectly conscious
how he felt, an:l the reason for it.

Uncle Asa was up and out with the coming of
dawn, and had a cheerily blazing fire going when the
four rather dishevelled girls emerged from their
tent.

" Thar's a pail o' fresh water I brought from
the spring up back 'ii' left in the fish house, gals,"
he said, after greeting them, " 'n' some soap 'n'
towels," and Hazel, who had wisely brought comb
and brush, led tlie way to it. Stacy appeared soon
after, and with his own toilet accessories betook
himself to the wharf for ablutions. Breakfast was
not as interesting a meal as the others ha<I been;
conversation was as limp, damp, and sticky as the
table-spread and dishes, and not until the rising sun
had cheered and warmed everybody was there any

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323

exhibition of good spirits. When the inflowing tide
made returning possible, Uncle Asa stowed the
roUed-up bed clothes and dishes in the two boats, to-
gether with most of their lighter camp outfit, then
called out that they were ready.

" One o' you gals kin go in the small boat with
Mr. Whipple," he said, as they all gathered on the
wharf, " 'n' t'other three with me in the big un.
That'll balance up."

And then came the question of who should be the
one for Stacy to take.

Hazel, who had covertly watched him all the
morning to measure his mood, but not once allow-
ing her eyes to meet his, solved it in an instant.

" You go with Mr. Whipple, Jennie," she said to
her Barre friend, decisively, " for he knows a few
people in your city and you can tell him all about
them." And piqued still more by Hazel's self-evi-
dent wish to avoid a tete-a-tete boat trip with him,
Stacy assisted his selected companion into the small
boat, and the start was made.

Of course these two had to talk now, and whether
from an intuitive conception of Stacy's feelings to-
wards Hazel, or spirit of mischief, will never be
known, but the subject the fun-loving Jennie
chose to enlarge upon and describe was her several
visits to Oakdale, and enjoyment of them with

ill
I,

3«4

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Uncle Asa's geniality and aid, also how Mr. Arthur
Penrose was very much enamored of Hazel, with
laughing comments upon his attentions and hopes in
that connection. Then after almost an hour of
this chatty and delightful ( ?) gossip, while he
smoked fiercely and rowed more so, she added a
final thrust by assuring him that she was going to
remain in Oakdale another week, and had persuaded
Mr. Penrose to stay also.

"We have a lot of fun all planned out," she
added, as a last sip of wormwood tea to Stacy,
" or Mr. Penrose has. He is going to take us all
on a straw ride to the shore one day and to go bath-
ing. We shall dig clams, of course, and cook them
in the big pot Uncle Asa keeps in his fish house,
and come home by moonlight. Then we girls are
going to have a picnic in a grove up back of Hazel's
schoolhouse, with a lot more, and there is a pavilion
there to dance in. If you are going to be here, of
course you can consider yourself invited to the pic-
nic. Will you join us?"

" I thank you, and I assure you I should enjoy
it," Stacy responded in ironical tone, " but I am
sorry to say that I must leave this afternoon. I
am only here on a business trip, so to speak. In
fact, I stayed over a day just to go on this outing."

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THE CASTLE BUILDERS

325

And all the while he felt that he would like to
throw the dudish, cigarette-smoking Mr. Penrose
into this creek at low tide, and watch him wade
out of the mud!

Stacy arrived at the boat landing ahead of Uncle
Asa, waited there with his voluble companion until
he came, and when the party had all filed up the
long board walk and halted at the foot of the lane,
Stacy made his adieu with the best grace possible.

" I am sorry, my good friends, but I must leave
you now," he asserted, consulting his watch and
surveying the group with a smile. " I had planned
to go to Barre yesterday on some special business ;
now I must go, and return to Albion to-night."

" I wi.shed ye could stay longer," responded Uncle
Asa regretfully, " but business is business, I s'pose.
Hadn't I best hitch up, 'n' take ye to the train? I'd
like to."

" No, thank you ; I've a little matter to talk over
with Sam," declared Stacy brisk' " and he is to
take me up."

And then Hazel also proffered a quite uninten-
tional sip of wormwood tea to Stacy.

" Molly's cousin from Barrc has a straw ride to
the shore planned for day after to-morrow," she
said. " Can't you come back and join us, Mr.

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326

THF CASTLE BUILDERS

I i

Whipple? I — we would all be delighte'l to have
you." And to Stacy's credit, he took his dose with-
out a grimace.

" No, I thank you all very much, but I can't pos-
sibly," he answered smiling.

" You'd better relent and say yes," urged Molly.
" Artie is the only gentleman, and we need two
to take care of us."

" No, no, many thanks, but I positively can't,"
declared Stacy again. " I thank you all for this
jolly outing, and hope I may have another some day
— good-bye," and turned and left them.

A half hour later and after Hazel's three girl
friends were returning villageward, a little exchange
between them must now be quoted.

" I think he's perfectly splendid," asserted Jennie
Oaks, " and all over eyes in love with Hazel besides.
But he was so mad because she didn't offer to come
up in the boat with him, he acted like a bear. I
couldn't get him to talk for a long time. Why
didn't she, girls ; he is such a catch ? "

" I know," responded Bertha Phinney sagely,
" and I have put my foot in it, I guess."

"Oh, how? Tell us," chorused the other two
eagerly; "how did you?"

" Promise me never to breathe it, hope to die you
won't," demanded Bertha in awed whisper.

^pir^twT* r> latiir'j^

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

327

" Oh, yes, yes, tell us quick," they both promised
as one, and halting to hear the mysterious secret.

" Well, I've no business to tell you," declared
Bertha, " for I promised mother not to, but —
but " — whispered — " he has had a deed of Bear
Hole Swamp made out in Hazel's name, and father
thinks he is going to buy it back from that man
Uncle Asa sold it to, and give it to Hazel ! What
do you think of that, girls? "

" Oh I Oh I Isn't it grand I " asserted Molly.
" He certainly means to marry Hazel if he can! "

" And I told Hazel yesterday," admitted Bertha
in penitent tone.

" Then you have put your foot in it," rejoined
Molly, vehemently.

" Both feet," added Jennie, " and that explains
why she was so crusty to him all day. You have
done a foolish thing, Bertha ! "

And so she hud, and in a very effective way.

" I dunno why you didn't offer to come back in
the boat with Mr. Whipple; why didn't ye, girlie? "
Uncle Asa queried of Hazel later on when alone
with her. " I kinder thought you would, 'n' — 'n'
I kinder wanted to hev ye."

" I had my reason, father," she answered firmly,
" for he would have thought I was anxious to be
alone with him, and I am not."

n i

CHAPTER XXVII

i',
I

! „
■ i '■

WTH Stacy now, to bring about a culmina-
tion of his plans and accomplish some-
thing, there seemed need of quick action.
Time was speeding, their contract with the Barre
Committee called for completion within two years,
then specified payment for power delivered for a
period of ten, and after that the town of Barre had
agreed to reimburse the firm of Bemis, Colby &
Company for all outlay, plus ten per cent., and own
the land, dam, and power hou.ic, or continue to pay
rental, and the aforesaid firm to retain ownership if
they so chose. There was also a clause that if the
two parties failed to agree upon rental after the ten
years had expired, it should be left to arbitration.
And it ia needless to say that the keen Stacy had
made the ten years' rental high enough to cover
the probable cost of all outlay except the original
one for land.

His main purpose in visiting Barre now was to
assure its Committee that power would be ready
for delivery on time: with a minor one, to meet
32S

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

329

and see what manner of man this J. Smith Alton
was, who, while a member of that Committee, had
probably betrayed its intentions and contract to La
Rosa Carmen, and she to Otero, as he was positive.

He arranged by telephone that Davis, chairman
of this committee of five, should meet him at the
hotel within an hour after his arrival, assured him
that he had a suitable site purchased, and should
have it surveyed and begin work within a month;
also that they need have no fear but that power
would be ready for Barre's use within the time
specified.

" But what about the story I've heard of this
man, Otero, having bought the site you intended to
use, the Bear Hole Swamp?" queried Davis after
this. " What is his game ? "

" Extortion, plain, ordinary extortion," returned
Stacy, smiling. " He heard through a woman,
named Carmen, what your plans were and ours.
Came here with a backer of his named Curtis North,
alias Pentecost Curtis, both unprincipled .sharpers.
They nosed and moused around until I arrived,
then this Otero met me with a fake proposition
about furnishing us with contract labor, and later
on — as I planned to let him — bought Bear Hole
Swamp of its owner, Asa Webster, at a stiff price.

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330

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

The other site, the one I wanted, I had already
bought, however," and Stacy smiled knowingly, as
one who had euchred the other fellow most effec-
tively.

"But who gave our plans away?" demanded
Davis. " I'd like to know that right now. It was
despicable ! "

" Rather," drawled Stacy, stroking his mustache
and smiling serenely. " But I am not mixing in
on that. I've got a deed of an elegant site, the
Rocky Glen Gorge, duly recorded. We shall have
our dam built and contract completed on time, and
Messrs. Otero, Curtis, and Carmen, et al., can use
Bear Hole Swamp to fish in summers if they like.
It's an elegant spot for that purpose — I tried it!
And never did I flounder and crawl through a
more impassable morass, with Mohawk briars so
thick you couldn't cut through them, and black flies
by the billion ! I'd give a cool hundred to drop this
Miss Carmen into it on a hot July day," and Stacy
chuckled at the humor of it.

" You know her then? " queried Drv!s curiously.

" By reputation, and her assistance to these two
sharpers," returned Stacy adroitly. " She has a
character and name much like this swamp."

" But who gave ,.ur plans away, I want to know,"

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

331

again demanded Davis ; " have you any idea, Mr.
Whipple?"

Then Stacy glanced at a Knight Templar charm
which Davis wore, looked around the hotel office to
see no one was near, and back to Davis again.

" You are a K. T., I observe," he said in a low
tone ; " so am I. And now on the square, and under
the is Mr. J. Smith Alton a Mason? "

" No, damn him, no I " almost shouted Davis, in-
stantly realizing who had so betrayed a trust.
" He has been playing fast and loose for some time
here now, owes everybody he can to the iimit, and
— by Jove, I see it all, and it's politics! He has
been alderman, councilman, and up again for that
this fall. I don't like him or any man of his morals,
but he was forced onto the Committee. And so it's
him, is it? "

" Well, I have almost conclusive proof that it is,"
returned Stacy in convincing tone. " He has been
sporting around with this Camien woman this sum-
mer in Albion. A trusted clerk in my office over-
heard her tell this Otero that he gave your plans
away to her, and she admitted recei\ ing a diamond
bracelet as a go-between, and promise of graft
from some source. These avv the facts ; pitcc thtin
together as you please and form your ou\i >i>ik1u-

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333

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

sions. I am not charging your Mr. J. Smith Alton
with anything. But I shall try to play the Bemis,
Colby & Company hand without losing tricks,
however. Later on, when I am here again. Brother
Davis, I'll tell you another story of more interest.
In the meantime, and without being quoted, I
might suggest that this city could elect a substi-
tute for J. S. Alton, with benefit to itself. Also,
if he owes you anything, the sooner you collect it,
the better."

And that night when Stacy boarded the last train
to Albion he felt that he had partially squared him-
self with one sneak.

" The world is full of them," he said to him-
self, returning to cynicism again. " They crop up
on all sides and in all walks. Graft rules our city
politics, chicanery and trickery are all about, and
trusts dominate business, with railroad rebating to
assist them."

A lurking sense of annoyance over the outcome
of his visit to Oakdale also vexed him, and visions
of the cigarette-smoking Penrose intruding; also of
him posing as the master spirit of the coming straw
ride and attentions to Hazel. Stacy wasn't jealous
exactly, yet that green eyed monster was blinking
at him from obscurity in vexing manner.

" I think I acted like a fool," he admitted to him-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

333

self after an liour of this meditation white the
train sped on. " When she came out to send her
father to bed and gave me a ch^ince to say a nice
word, I only sullced like a jackanapes, as I was."

It was past midnight when he arrived in Albion.
A sevt.'11-hour sleep, bath, good breakfast, some
coddling and soothing words from his aunt re-
stored his spirits ; on the way down town he bought
a New York paper, glanced over it for an adver-
tisement of Curtis & Company, then almost shouted
with satisfaction, for now a new one stared at
him in the sliape of an offer of two shares of the
Passaic Reclaiming Company common stock, par
value one hundred dollars each, to all purchasers
of a house-lot at four hundred dollars. This oflEer,
so that advertisement stated, would last for only a
few days. It had the usual flamboyant big-type
caption, with footnote, to write for map of the
company's property, and make selection before the
best lots were all ,aken.

" We'll take a fall out of you, Mr. Pentecost
Whiskers," Stacy said to himself after perusing
this, " and soon, too ! I must get busy now ! "

He did, too, for after an hour's fiiscussion of
their own affairs with Colby, he went to a pho-
tographer's, had copies of the Pentecost Curtis
signature made from a leaf of the Barre Hotel

I ,

1^'

334

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

register (which he had bought from its clerk for
one dollar), two of the Curtis North one on Uncle
Asa's mine certificate, and soitie of that swindler's
own face and watch fob. Then, after a consulta-
tion of time-tables, he wired Harkins to meet him
in New York at the Holland House with Tygson
and the necessary requisition papers, and to wire
answer when.

With so much accomplished towards his new trap
for these two villains, he next set about the prepara-
tion of a write-up of Curtis North, alias Pentecost
Curtis, and confederate, Leon Otero. Their his-
tory, detailing their occupation and adventures in
Rawhide, with dates and incidents; their visits to
Oakdale and Barre, present location and business,
even condensed as Stacy wrote it, made a lengthy
document. He had two typewritten copies made of
it, attached the several photographs, and then felt he
was ready, as indeed he was.

It took him nearly all day, and after the close
of business, as Ike was leaving the office, Stacy
took him one side for consultation.

" Well, my boy," he said, " did you put a thorn
into that Otero's side while I was away? "

" I did and a long one," returned Ike, buoyantly,
" the very night you left here. I made the rounds
of the hotels, found he was stopping at the New

THE CASTLIC BUILDERS

335

City, and that eve I strolled in about seven, had
a friend on watch, and when Otero came out of
the dining-room, my friend came in, greeted me
cordially, then we took seats near Otero, and
my friend told me the great joke he recentl; licard
in Barre. Put on all the frills, too, alx)ui. know-
ing Davis of the Committee, and how Bemi >. Colby
& Company were going right ahead lo dam the
Rocky Gorge brook for their power siu Oh, it
worked fine, and the little pup kept td!?i"< h!?
chair up to us so as not to miss a word. Two 'l.ijs
after I sent my friend around to the hotel, a.id
found that Otero left town the day after we workvi
the spell on him."

" Good ! good ! " rejoined Stacy, " and now ket'p
quiet. I may want you to do a little more sleuth-
ing later on." And Stacy hurried away, for he
had many matters to attend to.

Next day, to make sure of his ground, or rather
to know what steps Harkins must take in order to
arrest both Curtis North and Otero and take tliem
back to Nevada, if that should be decided upon,
Stacy consulted their attorney, and stated the case,
using no names, however. And now, armed with
his deadly parallel write-up, with photographs of
Curtis North, his watch fob. original signature, and
later alias attached to b jth, ;i ' this legal dictum

336

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

fl!

for guidance, Stacy, feeling that he held the winning
hand, went to their office once more.

And there awaiting him was a telegram from
Harkins :

" Meet you at Holland, the fourteenth. Get let-
ters to enable me to obtain extradition."

" Of course ! " exclaimed Stacy gleefully. " And
now, my friend, I have you on the hip ! "

And then Colby faced around from his desk and
favored Stacy with a half-humorous and decidedly
sarcastic smile.

" Say, old man," he ejaculated with a broader
grin, "you are busier than a dog full of fleas!
Here you've been in town two days, and this is
the first time you've paused to sit down' 'Vhat's
eating you, anyhow ? Hath love made you mad ? "

" No, but Curtis North has," rejoined Stacy,
smiling and getting at the point at once, " and we've
got to have that Bear Hole Swamp for our reser-
voir, and just now Curtis North or Pal Otero holds
a deed of it. Paid Uncle Asa, ' Uncle Rube ' you
call him, nine thousand, five hundred for it ! "

" Well, I don't wonder you've got fleas,"
chuckled Colby. " What do you propose to do
about it ? "

" Why, twist this villain, and make him or Otero
sign a deed for it for one dollar and other considera-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

337

tions, said considerations being what I've been work-
ing up the past two days," asserted Stacy, buoyantly.
" I've got him where I want him! "

" You think you have," responded Colby with
sarcastic smile. " Now I know the shortcake maid
has upset your sanity! Why, man alive, you
couldn't scare that old reprobate with a hangman's
noose 1 "

" He will see one dangling before I'm done with
him," asserted Stacy, lighting a cigar and tipping
back in his chair to enjoy himself. " And now, my
boy, I've another bombshell for you and a scheme
to make a million, you and I ! Bear Hole Swamp
will make a reservoir big enough to turn ten thou-
sand spindles or run a score of shops at practically
no investment for us except the power plant. We
shall buy the land below it, dike the power along for
a mile or so, dig out a nice harbor close by, adver-
tise the layout, and in two years sell land at any
old price, and you are in on the game ! There's mil-
lions in it, my boy ! "

" Going to build a shop and start making eye-
wash, my dear Colonel Sellers," rejoined Colby.
" or some new kidney cure from your swamp
roots?" Then in, comnr' ■aerating tone, "I first
thought it was love madness, my poor fellow ; now
I know you've got incipient paresis or need a

ill
ill

338

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

W
"?(.

m^'

strait-jacket 1 Better go back to your sweet sim-
plicity, sing coon songs with her evenings, and boss
our workmen daytimes. This hallucination will
blow over in due time."

" Bet you an even hundred I succeed with old
Curtis North," responded Stacy defiantly, " and
you're not in on the land deal, either. Give me a
check for five hundred. I'm going to New York
to-night."

" That sounds natural and familiar, anyhow,"
laughed Colby, filling one out. " I shan't give up
hope for you yet. I think the Oakdale girl is the
only cure for you, however." And so the interview
ended.

Stacy's next move was to write to Uncle Asa,
bidding him make ready and come to New York on
the night train out of Oakdale on the twelfth, and
promising to meet him there on his arrival.

Before signing it, he paused to consider an addi-
tional plan in this connection.

"Why not ask him to bring Hazel along?" he
said to himself. Then after a long deliberation
added, " No, she'll think I'm too anxious ; and as
her pa would say, ' Don't try to bake till your oven's
hot, my boy,' " then signed and sealed the letter.

A little of the Mother Eve in Hazel came to the
surface when this letter arrived, for she, recogniz-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

339

ing Stacy's writing, watched her fathei curiously
while he read it.

" Did — did he say anything about his visit here
and the camping-out party ? " she queried naively
and with well-simulated indifference.

Then Uncle Asa, who could read her mind as
easily as she could his, smiled benignly with a
twinkle in his eyes. " No, girlie," he responded,
watching her, " Oakdale's only a flag station in his
life, 'n' I cal'late he's forgot ye by now. He wants
me to meet him in New York in three days 'n' we're
goin' to hev a lot o' fun with that mine sharper!
Oh, I've got a hull circus a-comin', I hev, 'n' a
chance to sass him good 'n' hard in the bargain.
I jist can't wait till I git at him. 'N' the little
weasel, too," he added after a chuckle. " I've a
great notion to ketch a few snakes 'n' take 'em
along in a box ez a reminder to him, I hev ! By the
great horn spoon, I will, too ! "

And he did.

CHAPTER XXVIII

15' 5

FOR over six months now, or since early
spring, Curtis North — as we must call him
— had devoted about all his time and atten-
tion, also considerable money, to the launching and
development of his new swindling scheme of the
Passaic Reclaiming and Development Company.
He began by buying about one hundred acres of salt
marsh land along the bank of this ocean estuary,
whose only value was its annual crop of coarse hay
and a few billion mosquitoes, also obtaining options
on a thousand or more acres (three-quarters of the
pajTnent specified to be in company stock if taken),
then had it surveyed, a map made showing a bird's-
eye view of an embryo city with avenues, streets,
a few houses along the bordering riier, a wharf
with pleasure boats alongside, and a well-loaded
excursion steamer nearing it, and otlier details usu-
ally thrown in by keen artists who prepare these
alluring baits to catch the unwary. He also hired
a few Italians with a manager and set them at work
driving spiles and building a cheap wharf on the
340

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 341

river border and midway of liis land, also ditching
alongside and filling in a roadway to the upland.

" We've got to make a bluflf in order to scoop the
suckers," he asserted to Otero buoyantly when be-
ginning this work. " It's money thrown into the
mud, I know, but it must be done, and I'll make 'em
pay it back tenfold."

In the meantime, he talked continuously, per-
sistently, and like an oracle among his Wall Street
acquaintances about his plans and prospects of
money-making, handed out hundreds of his maps
to all who would glance at tliem, left bunches in
hotel offices, scattered them in depot waiting-rooms,
hired boys to tuck them under doors in residential
streets, paid a daily paper a round sum for a two-
column write-up, and, in short, adopted the usual
and invariable methods of exploiting such scliemes.
Then, timing his advertisement? for the sale of
bonds at the time when public curiosity was aroused
sufficiently, he found scores of fatuous buyers for
them. Strange as the fact may seem, a good many
were among the keen-wilted cult of Wall Street.
His next move, and brought about by the usual
methods of stock gamblers, was to get both the
common stock and bonds of his swindling company
listed on the curb — that indefinite mart where all

34*

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

such often worthless securities are traded in; an
arena, so to speak, where these speculative liars toss
worthless dice back and forth to amuse themselves,
and get one another short or long as the case may
be.

Of course this resulted in the daily quotations of
the P. R. & D. stock and bonds in all papers, and
accomplished what he intended — a still wider pub-
licity for his scheme. He would also now and then,
aided by a confederate or two, engineer a small
comer in the P. R. & D. marked cards, get a few of
the gay and festive crowd of gambltrs short of
them, and laugh in his sleeve when they bid them up
in a scramble to cover.

He had also sold about fifty thousand dollars
worth of the quarter-million of bonds he had had
printed when Otero, via Carmen and her friend, J.
Smith Alton, gave him what seemed a wide-open
chance to work a side-swindle by buying the in-
tended dam site selected by Bemis, Colby and Com-
pany, and making them pay smartly for it.

And, as Stacy surmised, it was La Rosa Carmen
with her unholy desire to avenge her desertion by
him and her influence upon Otero, that brought this
about.

The investment of the ten thousand dollars in
this was a mere bagatelle to Curtis North, however.

ii,

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

343

and only done to give his faithful ally, Otero, a
pat on the back and a chance to make a few thou-
sand to spend upon his adored countrywoman.
Carmen.

" You can run that scheme to suit yourself, boy,
and have all the fun and half the profit," he said to
Otero in grandiloquent tone upon drawing a check
for that amount. " Be careful not to mix me up
in the deal, however, and don't get caught yourself.
All I want is to give you a chance to show your
smartness, and my money back as soon as these
contractors settle."

He little realized how deep a pit was being dug
for himself, how the would-be biter would get bit-
ten, or how Nemesis in the persons of Stacy, Har-
kins, Tygson, et al., were hot upon his trail, how-
ever.

Like an ostrich that hides its head in the sand
and believes its body out of danger, so did Curtis
North feel sure that change of name, a few thou-
sand miles' separation from his Rawhide swindling
location, the possession of much money, and meta-
morphosis into an affluent financier rendered liim
immune from any and all retribution. While not
forgetting the fatal night in Rawhide that added
about sixty thousand dollars to his ill-gotten gains,
and sent liini east in a hurry, six years of prosperity

344

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

and the garnering of a half-million more had made
that episode seem a faint sliadow upon the horizon
of his past. He was now rotund, smiling, buoyant,
cynical, quite content with his own success as an aH--
round swindler, toadied to all who had nwre rtKvney
than himself, was ai. irrant hypocrite, felt only con-
tempt for all honest toilers, and inclinevl to adopt
that shibboleth of arrogant wealth, " The pubiic be
damned."

And this was a concise and to-the-point resume
of Curtis North and the Passaic Reclaiming and
Development Company that night when Stacy
Whipple, an avenging David, landed in New York
ready to assault this modern and iniquitous
Goliath. And the first pebble he picked up on
arriving at the Holland House was a map of that
swindling scheme recently left on one of its writing-
room tables. He gave a long-drawn " humph-
hum " of satisfaction as he glanced it over and read
the alluring prospectus on its reverse side, then put
it in his long pocketbook.

" We are on deck at the nick of time, I guess,"
he said to himself then, "and to catch you flush
with money and able to settle, you old villain.
Hope Harkins will arrive on time."

He next bought a copy of each evening paper,
left them in his room, ate a good supper, went to the

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

345

theatre and, as might be expected, while there
scanned the crowd of faces to see if perchance this
scheining swindler might be among them. On his
return, he conned over that bunch of papers, found
two in which the stock premium advertisement of
Curtis and Company appeared, and happening to
glance down the coliunn of stock market quotations
discovered " Passaic Development — fourteen and
one-quarter bid, fifteen Bsked," among the curb
securities.

Then he gave a prolonged whistle of astonish-
ment!

" Well, you are flying high," he exclaimed, " and
no mistake ! Also right in the swim, you swelled-
up toad I Fourteen and a quarter bid for one share
of hot-air bluff, is it? I don't wonder Puck said,
' What fools these mortals be ! ' " Then Stacy be-
gan his castle building again and added, " Wonder
how ' Pentecost Curtis, the well-known promoter,
arrested for murder,' in staring capitals in all the
papers, will look to you when you start west with
Harkins? I must have a reporter on hand when
the trick is turned, that's certain ! "

And so hilarious was Stacy over his prospects
and so anxious to consummate his plans and
" scoop " this reprobate, that he found sleep an
elusive matter that night.

mF^n&m

^^^^^^TH

346

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Next tnorning, and with two clays on his hands
before Uncle Asa and Harkins were to arrive, he
hied himself away to hunt up the location and look
over this great development scheme. The informa-
tion in the prospectus, and the fact that it was
within three miles of Newark's outskirts made that
easy, and here, first reconnoitering the dozen or so
men at work ditching or road or wharf building to
make sure that Curtis was not among them, Stacy
advanced as if on a curiosity quest and made a gen-
eral survey of what had been done.

Some money had been spent here, also, in a pass-
able roadway built out from the upland border a
half-mile across the marsli, and in an out-jutting
wharf and spile-protected levee to right and left of
this.

" You certainly are putting up a good bhiflf." he
said to himself after a hasty look around in which
he noted two small gangs of men lazily at work on
both ends of his levee. Then glancing into one of
tlie ditches alongside tlie graveled roadway out of
which the tide was ebbing, he added, " Sell house-
I'ls here! Why, the nerve of that man is monu-
mental, colossal, and p.-;st understanding!"

Tlien bctnok liinis^lf back to New York.

That afternoon he. using an introductory letter
from his own allorncy in Albion, called uiwn one

THE C\STLF. BUILDERS

347

in New York and obtaiiiiil fuiilier iiifomiation
upon the laws conaiiiing the case in han'l if, as he
surmised, Harkins shoulil make an arrest; i l course
wi(!"out the use of names.

" There should be," the atlorney said, " a warrant
issued agai I 'he periietrator nf tlie crime of mur-
der in the State of Nevada, or Ix-tter still, an indict
ment should be found against him by the grand
jury. Of course, having left the State he has not
been arrested and the warrant or indicuneiit still
runs against him and if he is found at an> lime
within the borders of the State of Neva<l^i he can
be apprehended by a «'ieriff. Now the man in New
York, who recognizes he fugitive ami anv other
person, the shcriflf in your c:ise, who c i make an
affidavit, first, th.at a crime of inurd. r has been
committed by a ma of a certain name in the State
of Nevada (this can h. the affidavit of the sheriflf
or of any other competent witness); second, the
affidavit of the man in New York that the fugitive
and the criminal is tlie same identical person, who
has committed a crime in Nevada and is recognized
by I 'm and known by him in the State of New
York. MVidavits lik. this arc then annexed to tli •
warrant or indictment, as the case may he, and the
Governor of Nevada upon this evidence issues a
requisition to the Governor nf New York and sends

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II-JIOCOPV MSOlUriON TEST CHA«T

(ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2)

1.0 [fi^ m

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_^ APPLIED IM/IGE Ini

— — ^ 1653 East Mam Street

S'.S Hothesler, Ne« Torfc U609 USA

"-ass (716) *S2 - 0300 - Phone

^^ (716) 288 - 59B9 - Fai

348

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

that requisition in the hands of a Nevada sheriff
to the Governor of New York, who immediately
orders extradition papers to issue. These extradi-
tion papers are directed to any person in the State
of New York competent to serve judicial processes,
that is, a sheriff or pohce officer, and authorizes the
arrest of the person named therein, the fugitive.
Upon his arrest, it is the practice in the State of
New York for the officer making the arrest to take
the man in company with the Nevada sheriff on
board the cars and convey him as far as the State
Une, where he turns him over to the sheriff from
Nevada, who carries him to his destination.

" There is no way in which any bond can be given
in a case of this kind. The only thing possible
would be a writ of habeas corpus, into which you
do not want to go. That would simply be a chance
for him to be heard in New York before he was de-
livered to the sheriff of Nevada."

And so justice and the forthcoming doom of this
despicable and heartless scoundrel were duly and le-
gally prepared for by Stacy, who did not mean to
leave any loopholes for escape, or get his own
fingers caught in any trap-springing operation.

A forewarning of it, or at least the probable fail-
ure of the Oakdale scheme, came to Curtis North

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

349

when Otero hastened back from Albion to acquaint
him with Ike's disclosure.

" I haf suspicion ze talk of zese two fellows » as
made for me to hear," he asserted to his superior
knave after relating it in their private office in low
tone, so that the clerk and stenographer in the outer
one could not hear. " One of them vas in ze hotel
that day to find eef I vas there, a tall fellow vit
big hands, und Miss Carmen says i' ees one who
ees in that man Whipple's office. Und I haf sus-
picion of somedings else I haf never told you," he
added more mysteriously. " Dis tall fellow, his
name ees Williams, und a man of zat name come to
where I haf room in ze city here und asked for me
und you, too, ze week we vas in Barre und said he
vanted to hire some men, und you know my card I
gif Mr. Whipple in Barre vas a bluff."

Then the self-confident Curtis North began to
stroke his beloved side-whiskers excitedly and
stared sharply at Otero. " Why didn't you tell me
about this man's asking for me?" he demanded
anxiously after a pause. " How did you know but
it was some sleuth?"

" I did not think so much of it zen," returned
Otero evasively, " und I forgot it since until now.
Vat I do think ees some trick haf been blayed on

350

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

us und ze swamp, ze tam swamp I bought, zey no
want now. Miss Carmen says she know zey haf
bought another in Oakdale."

And then Curtis North fairly glared at the
diminutive pal he had so trusted. " You've got
skinned in this game, and by an old farmer, too,"
he declared in derision, " and I am ashamed of you,
you — you little damn fool; why that — that
farmer is a mark, and you let him uo you !

" And me out of ten thousand dollars, you drivel-
ing idiot," he added more contemptuously and
louder, as it all dawned on him. " Just threw it into
that swamp hole like the stupid jackass you were."
And so angry was he now, he jumped up and
stamped around the small office!

" This comes of getting befuddled and bedeviled
by a scheming woman," he continued more scorn-
fully and with rising wrath. " You got after that
Carmen hag, she had a spite against this Whipple,
as you admitted, and put up the job ! Played you
for a fool and called the turn! Also ten thousand
dollars out of me, you — you imbecile ass ! " Then,
and cooling off a little, he sat down again.

And now, shrewd villain that he was, it began to
(lawn on him that some one's wits far keener than
Asa Webster's, had been matched against his in this
game of extortion.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

351

" It's that Whipple fellow at the bottom of this,
Leon," lie declared, nodding in mysterious manner,
and in cooler tone now. " He suspected your game
that day in Barre, I'll bet, and went back to Oakdale
and put up the job out of devilish cussedncss ! I'll
bet, too, he was the one who called at your house ! "

And just then, and for the first time in many
years, Curtis North felt a queer sensation of guilty
fear.

•' It can't be possible that old farmer described
me to this fellow, Whipple, and he recognized me
as the one who sold him the Rawhide stock," he
muttered half to himself. " By Jove, I hope not ! "

It was not long ere a worse fear assailed him.

t <

■I '

«: i

"W^f

CHAPTER XXIX

ELL, how are you, Uncle Asa? " was
Stacy's greeting the third morning
after his arrival in New York, when
that cheerful optimist emerged from a sleeping car.

"Wal, I'm middlin'," he responded, grasping
Stacy's hand, and with a " Here, leggo my bag,"
he added as he yanked it away from a young colored
porter who had grabbed it.

" That is, I'm out o' that sweat box alive arter
bumpin' my head more'n forty times tryin' to git
my clothes on in the box shelf, 'n' I didn't sleep a
wink, either.

" But I've had a heap o' fun," he continued, shak-
ing with suppressed laughter and drawing Stacy
one side from the crowding stream of arriving pas-
sengers. " More fim'n a barrel of monkeys ! See
that woman with the red nose ? " he added, indicat-
ing a stout lady with meat-axe face and hair-mole
on her chin, who was waddling by. "See this,
too? " holding up a paper-wrapped box and choking
another burst of laughter.

352

lift!

.' r,rmn''fLim.i

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

353

Then Stacy, curious to know the cause of Uncle
Asa's hilarity, peeped through a rift in the brown-
papered parcel he carried and saw three good-sized
black snakes squirming in the wire box !

"What the devil did you fetch those for?" hi
ejaculated, astonished.

" Oh, fer the little weasel I'm goin' to sass," came
the chuckling answer ; " 'n' say, talk 'bout a circus
'n' hullabaloo, wal, I stirred both up in the car this
mornin', I did fer sartin! Ye see, I brung four
snakes 'long, jest ez a sorter reminder o' B'ar Hole
swamp to the little Mexican cuss, 'n' shoved the old
rat trap I got 'em in under the shelf whar I war
put by the nig who had charge o' the car. Wal,
'long in the night one on 'em got out, ye see, 'n'
'bout daylight the fun begun! I wa'n't asleep, jist
layin' thar 'most suffocated, 'n' I heeid the oarky
come scufflin' down the aisle. I peeked out through
the curtains 'n' saw him stoopin' to steal a pair o'
shoes from under the bunk jist across from me, I
cal'late, 'n' ez he pulled one out, one o' rny snakes
slid out on't right over his hand ! 'N' talk 'bout a
scart nigger! He war it, all right, fer iie gave one
screech o' ' God A'mighty, de debbil,' 'n' turned a
flip-flap right over back ; his head hit the floor with
a thump 'n' when he riz, he riz a runnin'! All I
could sec war a streak o' white jacket a yellin'.

.•?S4

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

' Snake, snake in de keer ! ' I cal'late he'd turned
white, too, jist from skeer.

" The next minute that fat woman poked her
head out, 'n' right under her nose war that snake,
'n' the yell she let out would 'a' lifted shingles,
sartin! 'Twa'n't a scconj 'fore she bust out
through the curtains in her i^ightgown, 'n' jist dove
down the aisle arter the nig a-yellin' ' Snakes,
snakes,' fit to split! I don't think 'twas over a
minute 'fore everybody in the bunks had piled out
jist as they v/ar, 'n' into the next keer, I cal'late,
scart silly!

" 'N' then the conductor come in ! ' What's the
row ! ' he said to me. a-peekin' out 'n' laughin'.

Why, the nigg war took with jim-jams,' I
said, ' jist ez he war stealin' a pair o' shoes, 'n'
thought he saw a snake slip out o' one o' 'em I '
' I'll have him fired,' he said, ' to start sich a row,'
'n' then he went out 'n' fetched the bunch back to
git dressed. I went at it, too, s'posin' the fun was
all over 'n' then jist ez it war quietin' down, the
nig came back where he war, 'n' liftin' up a bunk,
out come that snake agin ! "

"Well, what happened then?" queried Stacy,
now choknig back his laughter. " Was — was the
fat woman back then ? "

" Yes, but she didn't st^.y back more'n a second,"

ij..

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

355

chuckled Uncle Asa, as they started on. " She
grabbed most o' her clother jumped right into a
man witli one leg in his pants, 'n' the two on 'em
jist rolled over in a bunch, he cussin' 'n' she
screechin'l Oh, 'twar a circus, I tell ye, 'n' I'll
laugh fer a month now.

" I'd 'a' got killed I s'pose if they'd found out
I brung the snakes," he added, glancing back as
they emerged from the depot, " but you kin bet I
kept whist. I got square with the nig, too," he
continued, chuckling again. " Ye see, 'long in the
night I a.\ed him to shove up the cover over my
bunk — nobody in it, ye see — 'n' he tried to skin
me out o' two plunks, the dern thief, he did I

" ' Ah can't do it, sah,' he said, ' less you pays two
dollars moah, sah, dat's de rule ob de company, sah.'

" Guess he'll 'member last night a spell, how-
somever," Uncle Asa added, chuckling again.
And then Stacy steered this joke-loving humorist
into a carriage and 'Started for the Holland House.

" You'd better keep fast hold of your snakes,"
Stacy now cautioned him as they rode on, " or you'll
start a bigger rumpus in the hotel than you did in
the sleeping car. There will be a porter and bell
boys to grab cerything you bring, and if they
see your snakes — well, we may both get .nto a
scrape. I believe there is a city ordinance against

356

THE CASTLE BUILDEr

-L<

carrying them. I'll take charge of them.' .' 1 he
did, now re-wrapping the wire trap su that nu one
CO Id discover its uncanny contents.

Later, when Stacy had piloted the irrepressible
Uncle Asa to their suite of rooms, he sent a bell
boy out for a telescope case and put the rat trap and
snakes in it.

At breakfast, next in order, Uncle Asa's droll
humor once more disclostd itself.

" T cal'late these Frenchified names fer jist old-
fashioned ham 'ii' eggs 'n' fried puddin' or sassige,"
he queried, glancing over the cafe menu, " is so they
kin tuck on sich ungodly pricv-s, ain't it, Stacy?
Lamb chops a la suthin' or other dollar-fifty, Je-ru-
se-lem, but that is chargin' some! 'N' Extra Sir-
loin Steak in blazer three-fifty, 'n' planked a la
Roosevelt four dollars, wow wow! Squab en cas-
serole two-seventy-five," he continued, re^ ig on,
" 'n' potatoes a la Holland House one dollar, 'n'
coflfee, qua -ter a cup! Say Mister Waiter," turnii^g
to the waiting one, " how much is a glass o' water,
jist i-t-in water, no a la in it? "

" Eet is no charge for ze water," returned the
waiter, grinning and filling Uncle Asa's glass, " no
charge, sairt."

And then Stacy came to the rescue.

THE CASTLE BUII-DERS

357

" You are my guest, ITncle Asa," he sairl smiling .
" let me )rdtr breakfast." And he did, a most
satisfying one. But when Uncle Asa noticed only
eighty cents returned in change from the ten-dollar
bill Stacy tendered in paj mem (and thai left on the
plate as a tip), he gasped again.

" It's jist a-eatin' money to eat here," he ejacu-
lated, " 'n' sorter sinful, too! Nice grub, o' course,
best ever was, but sich prices is highway robbery ! "
Then, with a glance around at the bediamonded
ladies wearing stunning Merry Widow hats, some
sipping cocktails, and waiters in full dress, he
added, "These folks don't git their livin' ketchin'
lobsters at fifteen cents a pound, 'n' sellin' potatoes
at fifty cents a bushel, I cal'la'e, Stacy? "

When the finger bowls and toothpicks on a silver
tray were b-ought, he glanced up at the waiter quiz-
zically. " Say, Mister Slick," he said with a
twinkle in his eyes, "yew'd best tell the boss he's
made a mistake in his price list 'n' left off the tooth-
picks! 'Cordin' to the rest, they'd sartinly ought
to be fifty cents, anyhow! "

He added the crowning touch of absurdity, how-
ever, when Stacy now coolly lit a cigar. " Say,
Stacj. ' he then whispered across the table, " t'.iey've
ben watchin' nie curis like 'round here I've noticed.

358

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

'n' griiinin', but s'pDsr I pulled out my old corn-
cob 'n' lit up now? Wouldn't that joggle 'em
some?

" 'N' how'd it work," he added after a pause and
chuckling, " ef I'd brought in my box o' snakes
'n' jist let \m loose here? I'd git sent to jail, I
s'pose, but " — snorting with suppressed laughter —
" it'ud be wuth it to see the crowd vamoose, I
swow! They'd start livelicr'n the nig did when
the snake come out o' the shoe, 'n' he went some ! "

And unable to control himself longer, Uncle Asa
exploded in laughter.

He followed Stacy out of the breakfast room,
still chuckling, and not until their own suite was
reached, did lie speak again.

" I s'pose I am out o' place here, 'n' a mark to be
laughed at," he then said, penitently, " 'n' mebbe
ye're 'shamed o' me, i.Ir. vV'hipple, but — wal, them
wimmcn, 'n' them waiters like dudes, 'n' thetn prices
set me agoin'! 'N' how folks kin go in thar 'n'
stand fer't, I can't see ! Why, it jist looks like they
wanted to be skinned, it do! And say," he added,
glancing around the luxuriously furnished room
they were in, " What do they charge for lodgin'
here, Stacy ? "

" Why, these two rooms are each eight dollars

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

359

a clay," lau);iicd Stacy, " but you nceun'i mind.
You are my guest, you ki w."

" Gee whittakcr crackee," exclaimed Uncle Asa,
"but this is wuss'n that breakfast, Stacy I 'N'
'taiii't right to bur- money this way, either, with
folks in this world a-slarvin', too! 'Tain't right, I
say! Let's git out 'n' find some cheaper spot. I
thouglit ^ knew sutliin' 'bout city life," he added
musing!;, after a pause, " but I don't know the be-
ginnin', even! 'N' wliar do folks here git their
money, I'd like to know? Do tlie/ print it them-
selves? "

" Some do," returr Stacy laconically, " or what
amounts to the sam ihing. work some swindling
game on the unwary, as Curtis North has been
'oing."

" 'N' this is the way my four tli and went I'd
scraped 'n' saved fer Hazel," asseucd Uncle Asa,
seeing a light. " Jist blowed by tliat whiskered
hypocrite who said he come to Oakdale to do the
Lord's work, 'n' prayed in meetin', cz he did ! 'N'
I took Iiim fisliin', too," he added musingly, " 'n'
picked out the best holes, 'n' sent him ahead to fish
'cm 'n' mai ; Hazel make us a shortcake, likewise!
Also a biled-down drivilin' idjit o' myself same
time, I did ! "

360

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And just then, as if to accentuate Uncle Asa's
humiliation and recall their errand here, a bell-
boy's knock came, and a telegram, reading,
" Stopped oflf at Albany to get requisition. Shall
arrive at two-thirty, Harkins," was handed to Stacy.

" We have four hours to wait. Uncle Asa," Stacy
now asserted, consulting his watch and pursing his
lips while he gave matters a mental round-up.
" Harkins will need an assistant officer to make the
arrest, I'd better leave you here in safe-keeping,
and go to see about it, or have one ready on caU.
Harkins must decide how we shall proceed."

And just now the stern seriousness and vital
importance of the coming climax to his plans oblit-
erated all else in Stacy's mind.

And for ample reasons, also.

For over two months now, he had been conspiring
to bring this about, and not only mete out justice
to two despicable scoundrels, but rescue Hazel's
heritage and Bear Hole Swamp as part of the com-
phcation. The latter purpose was the more im-
portant one to Stacy, and just how it would work
out was a question. He had the necessary cards
to play this restitution game. Justice, that blind
goddess, in the person of Harkins, was also now
speeding citywards at about one mile a minute as
Stazy knew, but no move or decision how to move

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

361

must be made until the keen-witted and legally well-
informed Rawhide marshal arrived.

" I'd better get everything ready," Stacy next
determined, voicing this to his companion, " while
you remain here in seclusion and read the papers."
As always with him, to decide meant to act at
once, and with a " You stay here ; bye-bye. Uncle
Asa," he left the room and in five minutes up came
a boy with all the morning papers. He was gone
three hours, returned, took Uncle Asa down to
lunch, and at just three-ten there came a knock on
their door, and Harkins and the yellow-haired
giant, Tygson, were ushered in.

Introductions came next, and then Stacy disclosed
his plans.

" I've got my write-up all ready," he said, now
producing it. " Also Uncle Asa here as a witness
to convince Curtis North that we know him. He
is now booming this other swindling scheme I wrote
you about, which I have included in his obituary,
as you can see ; and now what is your plan, Jim ? "
" Well," returned that officer, smiling as he
glanced over that six-page document, " it seems
probable our friend will weaken at sight of his biog.
with photographs attached and sign any old thing
to get possession of it and rid of you. If he won't,
then it's me next, and arrest for murder. I must

362

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

do that, anyway, after obtaining the legal papers I
have, that's positive. My theory and measure of
the man," he added after a pause, " is, he is an
arrant coward, a poltroon at heart. He will con-
coct fake schemes, tell plausible lies, steal cards in
a poker game, even stab a man in the back, if need
be, or club a drunken miner, as he did, but when
we walk in on him and demand what we shall, he
will squash right out, go into his boots like a wet
rag. I wouldn't be surprised if he went onto his
knees and bellowed like a calf for mercy when I
arrest him, as I must. Have you the deed you want
signed with you ? "

" Sure," responded Stacy, now drawing it forth ;
" all filled out properly and ready for signature to
make it legal." Then he passed it to Harkins.

" Know ye all men to whom these presents shall
come, greeting: that I, Leon Otero, for one dollar
and other considerations to me in hand paid, do
hereby deed, grant, assign and transfer to Miss
Hazel Webster, her heirs and assigns, all right, title
and claim " — read Harkins after glancing the deed
over, then stopped abruptly and looked at Stacy,
then at Uncle Asa.

"Your daughter, Mr. Webster, I infer?" he
queried, smiling.

" 'Tis, sartin," Uncle Asa admitted, flushing and

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

363

swallowing a lump, " but — but " — with grateful
glance at Stacy — " it kinder took me by s'prise.
Yew'd best change it, Mr. Whipple," he added,
choking again, and extending his hand to Stacy.
" 'Tain't — 'tain't right to give it to her arter all
ye've done fer me. Make it in yer own name."

" Too late," asserted Stacy briskly, with a light
laugh ; " besides I want the fun of buying it back
from Hazel, as I must later — if we get this deed
signed at all!"

" if we do," rejoined Harkins, smiling again at
Stacy, " you can no doubt buy it of her for one
dollar and other considerations (I hope), or maybe
there won't be any need of it, anyhow ? "

And then all four of these men smiled broadly at
this hint of a happy consummation.

" The question now," declared Stacy more seri-
ously, " is whether we go to the lair of ' his
whiskers' this afternoon, or wait till to-morrow?
I presume you will have to go back as soon as you
make the arrest, Jim? "

" To save expense and legal complications, yes,"
returned Harkins. " It's a high-handed act, how-
ever, to yank even such a scoundrel out of his busi-
ness without time to make some assignment of it.
And he can't obtain bonds after my arrest for
murder! Then I've been on a Pullman five days.

^isri^r^'nsss^

364

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

and you know what that means? I need a bath
and one night's sleep, anyhow!

" We'd best keep shady or if we go out, go sepa-
rately," he added after a moment's thought. " If
our bird was to spy us together he'd fly the coop in
two hours ! "

And he would have flown in less time, had he had
even a hint of who were now in the city and what
their mission was.

Matters were adjusted in a secretive manner,
however, for Stacy took Uncle Asa to one theater
that evening, Harkins went to another, while the
Swede, by the latter's advice, remained in seclusion.
The three chief actors in the coming drama met
again late that evening, discussed and rehearsed
their separate parts, and armed and equipped as the
law directs, with another officer to assist Harkins,
started at ten the next morning for the Mills Build-
ing and lair of Curtis North.

To add the spice of fun he hoped to obtain, Uncle
Asa also carried his box of snakes.

1 :n

' tij

CHAPTER XXX

WHILE coming events may or may not cast
their shadows before, it is an indisput-
able fact that crime forecasts its own
retribution. Commit one felonious act, and it is
as if the whole world were snow-covered and tracks
left behind each criminal! The greater the crime
against God or man, the deeper seem those fatal
footprints, as if even the blind might pursue!
With conscience once stung by the venom of crime,
its persistent shadow pursues even the most har-
dened sinner. It looks out from dark alleys, peers
through the cracks of doors, watches with sinister
eye from around corners, taps on the wainscot in
the stilly night, pulses through the air in uncanny
whispers, and the ominous patter of its avenging
steps seems ever in pursuit. A winged Nemesis —
black, baleful, vengeful, merciless — that can and
will pursue untiringly, above, below, and all about ;
and ever in wait to mete out inflexible justice !

For six years now, or since that fatal night when
he had dealt a merciless blow to a drunken miner,
then cut loose his belt of gold while yet dying,
3ti5

(•,

366

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

w "

Curtis North had never been quite free from this
insidious, carking fear. Not pity for the besotted
man he had slain, only a vague, never absent fear,
that sooner or later some retribution might overtake
him. He was vain, pompous, arrogant, even d<
fiant with his attained wealth, scornful of all laws,
juries, or justice; believed himself immune to any
danger from them, selfish to a degree that was dis-
gusting, and yet beneath all thii armor of self-
complacency and bumptious conceit, the tiny worm
of retributive fear gnawed at his vitals.

And now, since Otero had brought news of his
discomfiture, sure that Stacy Whipple was its cause,
and most likely had also conferred with the Oak-
dale farmer, once swindled by him, and suspected
his identity as well, Curtis North began to grow
uneasy. So certain did he become after three days
of this insidious fear hat an avenger was on his
trail, that he now thought it best as a matter of
precaution to begin the closing up of his business
ventures, secure all the I'loney he couid lay his
hands upon, and be ready lo leave for some foreign
country on an hour's notice, if advisable. To this
end, and without notifying Otero of his plans oi
fears, he witlidrew large sums in bills of big denom-
ination from the two banks where he kept deposits,

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

367

secured cashiers' checks for most of both balances
left, and then obtained the sailing dates of all out-
going steamers for the next two weeks, and the
destination of each.

And then so shrewd was this old fox that he —
two hours after Stacy met Uncle Asa with his box
of snakes — began the examination of all the prin-
cipal hotel registers to see if perchance this man,
Whipple, had arrived at any of them. And so close
a call was it, or by the fortuitous straw of chance,
that he was halted at the Waldorf by meeting a rich
Cuban planter — to whom he had been trying to sell
a block of his Passaic bonds — and postponed call-
ing at the Holland House until next day !

To land this big plum and " easy mark " as Curtis
North thought him now, and at once, and so secure
about ten thousand dollars more, seemed more im-
perative than a further pursuit of hotel registers
that day. To this pleasant and remunerative task
he now applied himself diligently, wined and dinec
his victim that evening, took him to a theater, and
after so much preliminary work, made a positive
date to meet him at his office at ten-thirty, sharp,
the next day.

And at nine-forty-five exactly of that same day,
Stacy, Uncle Asa, Harkins, Tygson, and the assist-

KXffJT^Si::^ '^mm.r

368

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

I 11'

ant officer entered the ^fills Building, stepped into
an express elevator and were shot up to Floor
Twenty -two in a jiffy!

" You stay outside," Harkins said to his assistant
as they advanced l. room 210, " and when I whistle,
you cn.ne in quick."

Then Stacy — a trifle nervous, perhaps — opened
the door and led the way into the lair of Curtis
North.

As he half expected, he now found himself in an
outer office witli bookkeecsr and stenographer only,
at work.

" We wish to s-.e Mr. Curtis," he said to the
former, who glanced curiously at the party.

" Name, please ? " came the response in civil tone.

" You can say we called to see about investing in
some bonds," replied Stacy, nonchalantly.

In a moment more a door was opened from
within the inner office and a " This way, please,"
gave the needed permission.

And just then Stacy's heart gave a sudden leap
of keen anxiety and suspense.

The crucial moment had come.

He had wondered many times how this arch-
swindler would meet Harkins and himself —
whether defiantly, cravenly, or with virtuous indig-
nation. He felt almost sure, however, from his

.JL

-'."• S it ...^^

", .T-jOB

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

369

measure cf the man, that he would take his medi-
cine with the sung-froid and bravado of a polished
scoundrel and dead-game sport combined, and with-
out a protest.

And Stacy was right, for as the party filed in,
Stacy leading, Curtis looked up from his desk, gave
one quick glance at the four faces, the flush van-
ished from his own, and he faced around and stared
at his enemies defiantly.

"Good morning, Mr. North," -.vas Stacy's off-
hand greeting; "this is my friend Mr. Harkins
from Rawhide, Mr. Tygson also, and Mr. Asa Web-
ster from Oakdale," he added, thus introducing
them. " I met you in Barre last summer."

For one instant the keen eyes of the trapped
swindler turned furtively from one to another of
the four intruders, a quick biting of lips came next,
he glanced around to where Otero sat, then back to
the waiting, watching men.

" Well, gentlemen," he said almost defiantly, yet
with a tremor in his tone, " what can I do for
you ? "

"Oh, not much," returned Stacy nonchalantly
again and drawing his deed from his inside coat
pocket ; " just your friend Otero's signature on this
paper and yours as witness.

" For one dollar and other considerations," he

:"1rtC»^ ■"".' ifc^rV-

370

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

added, producing the bill and handing both to the
watching man.

He took it, let the bill dtop to the floor, opened
and glanced over the deed, and wheeled around to
Otero.

" Here, Leon, sign this," he then directed, affixed
his own sig'.iattire— Pentecost Curtis — in trem-
bling hand, and passed the document back to Stacy.

" Anything else you want, sir?" he next queried
with more bravado.

" My friend, Tygson, has a loan he wants paid
back," responded Stacy incisively ; " how much is
it, Mr. Tygson? "

" I vants tirty tousand dollar, und in money,"
almost snarled the Swede. " Und I vants it now ! "

" The loan's been running 'bout six years you
see, Mr. North," explained Harkins, speaking for
the first time, " and he's added interest."

" But this is — is robbery," gasped the trapped
man, " and I — I — " catching at a straw, " haven't
so much here."

" You can send your pal to the bank after it,"
rejoined Harkins resolutely now. " I've an officer
waiting outside to keep him company."

No protest came to this, however, and hesitating
a moment only, Curtis North turned, swimg a safe
door open, unlocked an inner till, fumbled over a

TlIK KKKN KVKS OF TIIK TUAI'PKD MWINDI.KIt TrilXKI) FLK-

TIVKI.V FHOM ONK TO ANoTIIKR OF TIIK F4MB

INTItritKFtK.— P»i;/r .itU).

• '^.or^

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 371

plethoric pocketbook, then handed a small sheaf of
bilii of large denomination to Tygson.

"Anything else?" he next queried witli admi-
rable sang-froid and rcasm combined ; " a more
loans you gentlemen want paid back? "

And then Harkins, who despite his official anxiety
to arrest this cool villain was compelled to admire
his nerve and audacity, spoke again.

" You take your medicine like an old sport, Mr.
Curtis North, alias Pentecost Curtis," he said
sternly. " But I must now and in the name of the
law and State of Nevada, arres'. you for the murder
of one Yonn Johnson 1 Also you, Mr. Leon Otero,"
he continued, turning to him, then drew forth his
warrants.

"Shall I read these writs to yo>i?" he queried.

And then the sublime stit'-posses;' m and nerve
of this swindler gave way and he collapsed.

" My God ! " he stammered, " th — this is all
wrong! I — I never killed that man! He fell and
broke his own skull I I — I — you can't prove it,"
then choked and shook with abject fear.

And then to end this painful scene, Harkins blew
a shrill, short blast on a small whistle, his assistant
entered speedily, and him he next addressed.

•' These men are my prisoners," he said ; " we will
be decent to them and wait till they send for and

372

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

11 .

appoint some trustee of their business. We will
then start west with them this afternoon."

" You understand, Mr. North," he added more
sternly now and addressing him, " you can have
one hour to fix up your business matters in this
office and then we start, at one o'clock I think."

" What shall I do now, Brother Harkins," Stacy
now asked; " anything for you? "

" There is my satchel to get and my hotel bill to
be paid, Mr. Whipple," responded Harkins briskly ;
" also have a carriage here at twelve, sharp." And
glad to escape so unpleasant a situation, Stacy and
Uncle Asa left the office while Tygson remained.

He, poor fellow, scared half out of his wits, as
he had been all along and with a small fortune now
thrust inside his shirt, was sure to stick to his
savior, Harkins, until the security of his own haunts
was reached. Neither did Uncle Asa utter one of
his intended sarcasms, for the sight of even this
swindler who had robbed him now cringing in
abject cowardice,- and white as his whiskers, nul-
lified that intention entirely.

" I'm kinder sorry fer the critter, arter all," he
said to Stacy, when out of the office and still holding
fast to his box of snakes. " But, by gosh, wa'n't
he scart ! I cal'lated he'd make the weasel sign the

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 373

deed, figgerin' that war all ye wanted, but gin up
thirty thousand dollars 'thout a whimper ! Jerusha,
but that was bein' skeered some! 'N' when Mr.'
Harkins peeped, 1 could hear his teeth rattle! I
s'pose he'll hev to swing, won't he?" he added
after a pause. " But — wal. I hope they'll jug him
fer life 'stead o' that. His wiltin' so kinder teched
me."

" He gave up much easier than I expected," re-
joined Stacy, "and my write-up was all wasted.
Harkins may use it, however, in court."

But this bumptious knave and arrant coward
combined, as might be expected, tried the only hope
he had now for escape, and within ten minutes after
being left alone with the officers.

"I am not guilty of the murder charged, Mr.
Harkins," he said, recovering his bravado some-
what, "and you can't prove I am. We were at
that woman's cabin, my friend, Otero, and I, I ad-
mit, but all I know about the death of that miner
was his falling from the loft above. He was up
there, and drunk. We left town that night so as
not to be mixed up in a scandal.

"This arrest is an outrage, and will ruin my
business," he added, turning to his safe again and
taking out a fat pocketbook, " but you must do your

UK'- i

374

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

duty. And now " — beginning to count out bills —
" I'll give each of you fifty thousand apiece to for-
get you found me. Is it a go ? "

For one long moment Harkins' eyes, hard and
scornful, were fixed on those of his prisoner, then
he answered :

" You lie quite fluently, Curtis North," he said
with incisive sneer. " You cringe like the mean
coward you are. But a million of your stolen dol-
lars won't tempt me to deprive the boys in Rawhide
of what they are anticipating on your arrival ! "

And then Curtis North collapsed again, as Har-
kins meant he should.

At just twelve, Stacy once more walked into the
office of Curtis and Company to find Harkins smok-
ing grimly and watching his two prisoners, while
the leading one was instructing another broker how
to continue and look after his business.

" Come, gentlemen, time's up, put these on,"
Harkins next commanded in brusque tone, produc-
ing a pair of handcufi^s, and then at this final
humiliation the last vestige of Curtis North's
bravado vanished.

" There is no need of this indignity," he moaned,
" and it's an outrage ! I shall go along without
trouble."

" I intend you will go along, anyhow," asserted

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 375

Harkins, curtly. " Come, right face ! " And awed
by this imperious marshal, the two cringing men
submitted, and a quite suggestive procession of
seven men entered the next downward-bound
elevator. A crowd flocked about the Mills Building
entrance awaiting them, for the news of this arrest
had spread like wildfire, and shouts of " Here they
come ! " " How much am I bid for P. R. D. stock ? "
with rapid offers down in its price, greeted their ap-
pearance. Some were facetious bids, of course,
most, real enough, for a good deal of this now
worthless stock had been foisted upon " the street,"
and this was a last " devil-take-the-hindermost "
scramble to get rid of it. The bidding ceased when
one wag shouted, " A thousand P. R. D. for one
cent a share," and another, " Send me your picture
before they shave your whiskers," and thus insulted
and jeered at by this band of sc ^■:rs who respect
nothing under the sun, the two trembling prisoners
were pushed and crowded into the waiting carriage.
" Here's my write-up of your two birHs, Jim,"
Stacy said to him, now about to enter this convey-
ance. " Also the fob and picture you may need.
If I am wanted at the trial I'll come on, good-bye."
And so ended the career of these two arch-con-
spirators in Wall Street — forgotten inside of a
week. They left in state, however, for Curtis

vj"

376

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

1:1

North, forewarned as he had been by his own in-
tuitions, carried with him over a quarter-million dol-
lars in large bills and certified checks. He had also
telephoned to engage an unscrupulous lawyr to go
on to Rawhide with him and lead the legal fight he
meant to make to save his neck. What happened
there later, on his arrival, how " the b'ys,"
led by McCue, met him and received him, " in
due and ancient " mining-camp manner, and its out-
come, must be told later.

For the present, however, Stacy's plans and rastle
building, the city in his mind, his interest in Hazel
and its up-hill course, are of more pertinent in-
terest. It must be said, however, that this Colonel
Sellers sort of fellow with his precious deed and
key to unlock all his plans and harness the giant that
was to build his city, now felt in a mood for joyous
shouting. And Uncle Asa more so.

" What'll I do with my snakes?" that cheerful
humorist queried of Stacy when they arrived at
the depot to take the night train out of the city.
" I didn't jist feel like givin' 'em to the weasel,
he 'peared to hev 'bout troubles 'nuff. But some-
body here ought to git 'em, I cal'late ? "

Then Stacy glanced across the street to a bril-
liantly-lighted saloon, and an inspiration came.

" Go over to that gin palace," he responded, in-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 377

dicating it, " and tell the head barkeeper that Curtis
and Company, of Wall Street, sent the bag. Then
skip out quick." And Uncle Asa did so.

He could only guess what the high-salaried
artist in liquids said when he examined his present,
but he laughed to himself for two hours about it,
and Stacy kept him company.

i'^'

I'^X i

CHAPTER XXXI

STACY was still in a hilarious mood the next
morning when, after parting from Uncle Asa
at the station, he reached his own office and
found Colby, as usual, busy at his desk.

His first utterance upon entering was a shout of
" Rah, rah, whoop, hip, hurrah, Bert ! I've won
out, hands down, and got the deed ! "

" And a ' bun,' also, I should judge," returned
Colby, facing around with a sarcastic grin. " Let's
see your deed." And Stacy produced it.

" To Miss Hazel Webster, her heirs and assigns,
to have and to hold, etc., etc.," Colby added now,
reading from the document, then paused and re-
garded his partner with a broad grin.

" Little previous, wasn't it ? " he drawled. " Or
is this the winning maid's marriage settlement? If
so, where do we come in on the power site ? "

" Oh, I shall have it deeded back, of course,"
returned Stacy, briskly; "that's all right! No
trouble about that ! "

" In the family, eh ? " queried Colby again with
37S

THE CASTLE BUILDERS ^79

quizzical sinile. "And when does the wedding
come off?

" But what's vhe use of questioning a man in
love?" he continued ironically, without waiting an
answer. " They can't even see a joke when it's lit
up. Going to start for Oakdale this noon, are you ?
Want another check for five hundred, eh? Go
ahead and have your pipe dream, my dear boy!
We don't need business, and Barre can wait.
When you get sane again, we will go ahead on
the contract."

" I shall start for Oakdale to-morrow," returned
Stacy seriously, for he was used to his partner's
badinage, " and I want the two surveyors to go
with me. I think, also, you'd better engage about
fifty men, ready to come on when I say and begin
work on the dam foundation. I presume I can get
woodchoppers in Oakdale or Barre as soon as the
swamp freezes up so they can work. My plan
is to go ahead on the dam as fast as possible, cut
and haul all available timber this winter, have a
portable sawmill set up, and before green grass
comes again I will have the foundation for the
power house all laid. I think we'd better use wood
for it, it's too far to haul brick from the railroad."
And so the business needs of his plans now super-

m-i

380

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

seded all else in his mind — except Hazel, and
she only to be considered as a side issue when even-
ing came. To win her he meant, and he believed
that he could do so ; to go ahead now on his air cas-
tle and build his new city came first, however; and
all the conspiring plans, land purchases, factory sites,
the laying out of streets, the enlargement of a pos-
sible harbor, must needs be attended to at the same
time. Pride, also, now came in as an incentive.
He had suggested what he meant to do in Oakdale,
knew that hamlet was all agog over his proposi-
tion, and that every man, woman, and child was
soon to be discussing it and himself. And by
nature a leader among men, he now meant to suc-
ceed and win public approval ; also Hazel's.

He spent almost that entire day in discussing
plans with Colby, made suitable provision for capital
to be used in land purchase, had partnership papers
drawn for Sam Gates and Ur.cle Asa to sign with
himself, packed two trunks full of fall and winter
clothing, for, as he assured his aunt at parting,
he was to make his home in Oakdale for the next
year, and then, with all plans perfected, he and the
two surveyors left Albion at noon the next day.

He was quite happy, too, more so than ever be-
fore in his life, for now he was in a fair way
to realize one of his air-castle dre.- , to start an

■rr t

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 381

embryo city where Nature had made possible a
thriving one, with all the charm of wooded hills
enclosing it, and the near-by ocean to add natural
beauty and romance.

The money side of this dream was also a factor,
though less so with him than success, and the satis-
factory culmination of his plans. He meant to at-
tain both, however.

There was something else, also, that came as a
premonition, when he, just at sunset, once more
••ounded the hillside where he could look down into
the valley at the apex of which lay Oakdale, and
that — that here among these simple, frugal, honest
people was likely to be his future home.

" For a time at least," he thought, glancing across
to a scarlet blaze of foliage amidst which he knew
stood the home of Hazel, then beyond to the border-
ing ocean. "It may be rather quiet here when
winter comes, or until the trout brooks are un-
locked, and the time comes to go shoring with Uncle
Asa," he continued in thought, " still she will keep
me from being very lonesome, I guess."
Who " she " was, can easily be inferred.
Sam, as might be expected, received him with
enthusiasm.

" Uncle Asa said you might fetch in to-night,"
that Boniface asserted, while shaking Stacy's hand

382

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

cordially, " 'n' I've got things vvaitin' to gin ye a
good Slipper. I'll show ye all up to rooms," he
added, seizing Stacy's suit-case and leading the
way, " 'n' arter supper we kin talk over matters. I
s'pose ye' re goin' to stay here now quite a spell?"

That Sam had " got things waitin' " was evinced
in the dining-room, for the heretofore untidy
Norah was attractive in clean white pinafore apron
and cap, an immaculate table cloth and fa.;-folacd
napkins added attraction to the table, upon which
was a vase of flowers, all adding zest to the broiled
chicken and cold boiled lobster now served.

" I s'pose we'd best git arter this land bizness
soon ez possible," Sam assured Stacy in an aside
immediately after he emerged from the dining-
room. " It's kinder whispered 'round here what
yewr plans are bout the B'ar Hole site, 'n' — wal,
you understand."

" I do," smiled Stacy, unconscious that iiis pact
with Squire Phinney had been betrayed and the
prospective deeding of that property to Hazel was
known to all Oakdale. " VVe will get busy to-mor-
row, Sara, and begin buying land where it's ad-
visable, or obtaining options on it." Then he
donned his fall overcoat, lit a cigar, and started
for Uncle Asa's at once.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

383

" He's tendin' right out on Hazel," growled Sam
to himself, going out to bring wood for the office
fire, " 'n' bizness kin wait. That's alius the way
with a feller stuck on a gal. VVal, it's a cinch fer
her, 'n' I'm glad on't."

Then he returned, added fuel to the (ire, drew
chairs up for the two surveyors, proffered them
s'mic " two-for-five " cigars, and proceeded in his
adroit way to obtain all they could disclose of their
mission.

In the meantime, and in spite of the pique re-
sulting from his last meeting with Hazel, Stacy was
striding on towards her home with anticipations of
a pleasant evening. And soon hastening up the
now leaf-carpeted lane, he once more heard her
piano and voice now joined, and througli the cur-
tained window saw her seated at it, and near by in
rapt attention, Mr. Arthur Penrose I

For one instant Stacy felt like gnashing his teeth
and swearing, the next a glum of sulkiness (his one
most objectionable foible) took possession of him.

" She knew, or must have known I was com-
ing to-night," he muttered to himself. " for I told
Uncle Asa I was, and now has that cigarette puppy
for a caller! Well, so be it. Miss Ha.^el Iceberg!
I'll stay away until you invite me to call."

384

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And so wratlifiil was he at what he felt to be
ill usage, that he came near wheeling about and re-
turning to the hotel.

A second and better impulse came the next mo-
ment, and that was to ignore Hazel and her visitor,
go on to the kitchen and make a business call on
Uncle Asa. A knock on the door of that brought
the ancient spinster, Aur.: Sally, and he found Uncle
Asa enjoying his corncob pipe beside the open fire.
"Wal, I'm glad to see ye, right glad, Mr.
Whipple," was Uncle Asa's greeting, as he drew
an armchair up for Stacy, while Aunt Sally dis-
creetly withdrew. "I cal'lated you'd come to-
night. Hazel hez a caller, but you 'n' I kin visit
jist the same. He won't stay long, mebbe."

" I got here to-night, and Citic i iwn righl after
supper mainly to have a business talk with you,"
rejoined Stacy, " so it's just as well. Business first
with us, Uncle Asa. And now," he continued after
lighting a cigar, " let's get at it. In the first place,
and rather thoughtlessly on my part, before we
went to New York, I had a deed ready for this
Otero to sign and, as you saw, made out in your
daughter's name. What I should have done was to
have it in yours, but I was rather excited that
morning and used hers, thinking it might be ad-
visable for several reasons. Now I have the deed.

THl" CASILE UUILDERS

3«5

we or my firm must own that property, and what
you and I must adjust is a fair price for us to
pay you for it, then have Hazel deed it over to
us, and we pay her tlie price, or you take it as
you think best. It may be wiser," he added after
a pause, " for the deed to be from her to you,
then you to us to save comment here. I made
Squire Phinney swear to secrecy in this matter,
however, and I presume he has kept his word."

And just then Uncle Asa, so honest was he, came
near blurting out the fact that this pecuhar trans-
action was already known to all the village.

"Wal, mebbe it's best to hev the deed to me
fust, 'n' made back to your firm," he responded
after a pause. " It'll sorter look better, 'n' mebbe
t'other way might make talk.

" Ez for the price " — sniiiing now — " fhar won't
be no price on it. "ifou got me double what 'twas
wuth out o' that swindler, 'n' the swamp's yewrn
anyhow, now."

" But I can't accept it that way, and won't," re-
turned Stacy firmly. " What I did in the matter
was for two reasons: to get you your money out
of the mine swindle, and pay Curtis North for try-
ing to rob us, as he and Otero planned. The site
is worth a fair price to us, and I shall insist on pay-
ing you for it."

386

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

;i£ lit

" 'N' ye can't, V I won't take a dern cent," re-
sponded Uncle Asa as firmly, and smiling, " so thar
ye be."

For a long five minutes Stacy mused upon this
unique situation fully conscious that Uncle Asa
meant what he said. Also that he himself was
equally firm in not being willing to accept this
valuable piece of property without due payment.

" I feel just as I said, Uncle Asa," he asserted at
last, " and so will my partner. We must have that
site, and we won't accept it as a gift from you, so
what's to be done ? "

" Derned if I know," rejoined Uncle Asa chuck-
ling. " I'm jist ez an.\ious ez yew be to hev ye go
ahead 'n' build yer dam; but I won't do a mean
thing, 'n' takin' pay fer what I've got double its
wuth fer a'ready 'ud make me feel I wus ! "
" But we must fix it somehow, you and I."
" Yes, we must, I'll 'low, 'n' now yew crack the
nut, ye know my feelin's ! "

For another long moment Stacy gave thought to
this unusual and complex situation. He also felt
that he personally would like Hazel to have five
thousand dollars more — what he considered fair
valuation for this swamp — to add to her bank ac-
count.

" I see but one way out of it," he declared finally,

-t^sm^:^

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

387

" or rnt!- '; two ways. First, that we go to Albion
and .vill pick tl / :e business men who don't know
us, !•.-,;■ the situ tion and our positions, and abide
by th- Jp'-';ior, ; or I will give you five thousand
dollars to deposit in a Barre bank in Hazel's name,
and if within one year she is not my promised wife
you are to then give her the bank book. In the
meantime, you must pronu'se me on your honor, not
to betray this agreement to her. On these condi-
tions I'll accept the deed and go ahead with my
plans."

" Wal, that way out on't is sorter like a jug —
handle all on one side," chuckled Uncle Asa ; " she
gits the money anyhow, fur's I kin see ? "

" And I get her or lose the money," returned
Stacy promptly. " So it's a fair bargain, or up to
me to win her, isn't it? Come, Uncle Asa, let's
call it a go. I want her if I can get her, even for
a thousand times that sum ! "

" Wal, I'll call it a go," responded Uncle Asa
smiling and offering his hand, " 'n'— wal, ye know
how I feel in the matter." Then he bent forward,
picked a coal out of the fire with the tongs, lit his
pipe, and puffed away contentedly, as if he once
more heard larks singing in the sky. From his
viewpoint, there were no more clouds in it.

And then, while Stacy mused upon the complica-

•^-Kr: V,->.:fMMi':' 4JA^?*-".W!!*to"

388

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

tion and wondered how the elusive Hazel would
act and feel when informed that he had had this
deed drawn in her name and she was actually the
owner of this now valuable swamp, Uncle Asa be-
gan laughing; first, a low ripple, then louder, until
it swelled into a " ha-ha-ha " that shook him.
" Say, Stacy," he ejaculated, curbing it a little,
"I've cut up some didoes in my time, but ne'/er
one I laughed at arterwards like the minute I saw
that nig turn a flip-flop ez that snake slid out o'
the shoe! 'N' say," he continued after another
burst of laughter, " do ye know I'd gin a fiver to 'a'
seen that barkeep open the present he got from
Curtis 'n' Company! I would right now! I only
wisht the h lakes'd ben loose in the telescope so
they'd 'a' slid out. Wouldn't that 'a' joggled him
some ? "

"Rather," returned Stacy, now laughing; "he'd
certainly have thought he had 'em himself !

" And now," he continued, after quieting down
and consulting his watch, "there are a few busi-
ness matters I'd like you to attend to. First, I want
you to see Squire Phinney in the morning and have
this deed recorded and one made out to yourself,
then copy of same to Bemis, Colby and Company,
and all recorded in proper order. Then meet me
at the hotel at noon for dinner, and you and Sam

-,,. lU

MWrH!TMS-.AW

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 389

sign our partnersliip papers ; also discuss what land
we had better buy or obtain options on at once.
My idea is that we want all below your farm and
perhaps an eighth of a mile back from the creek
bottom lands down to its mouth, and a section
across where your table is and where we camped.
That is worthless sand now. V'hen that harbor
is made available for coasters it will be worth
thousands. This land below us, now covered with
scrub, and sandy, is not of much value, either, at
present. But it's along this side and towards the
ocean that shops and tenement houses will first be
built." And then on wings again, he launched into
more explicit descriptions of his plans and present
intentions.

■vant you and Sam to manage this investment
I.. . 'he declared as a finale, "and consult with
me when needed. I've got two surveyors here now.
In a few days, or as soon as we can house and
feed them, I shall have fifty men at work on the
dam foundation; also as many more clearing up
the swamp when freezing weather comes. I think
I'd better go now," he added, consulting his watch
again and rising. Then and despite all Uncle Asa's
urging and assertion that " Hazel's company '11 be
goin' soon," Stacy hurried away.

The fact was tliat he did not want to stay and

M B ^ i?« H fl BMF^nf?t<ML m^iW '::%:e:wi3a^^K' j

'■\v,

Twfi

390

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

f'',':,!. .

meet that piquant lady this evening, but wished
rather that she should know he had come and gone
without attempting to see her. Despite all his heart-
to-heart exchange with her father, Stacy still felt
that she ought to have informed this Penrose fel-
low that a caller was expected this evening, and
so been ready to see him.

Like some other men in this world, Stacy was
inclined to feel himself the largest " pebble on the
beach."

Uncle Asa, however, felt that he, as 'le 'vould put
it, " had got to cut a cat's claws," and it was no
easy task to accomplish. He knew Hazel's spirit,
knew how she felt about this deed matter — now
common gossip, and that some unpleasant things
would be said by her when this matter came up.
Beyond that, and while he didn't blame Stacy, since
he meant no harm, he felt that it was a thought-
less act of his to have this deed drawn in her
name. And he also very much desired lo bring
about amiable relations between Hazel and Stacy
with the hope tliat it might mature into something
more. Not that he was a matchmaker or anxious
to dispose of Hazfi, only — broad-minded and
keen as he was — he saw the best that was in
Stacy, and tliat below his surface nature, or a dis-
position to be masterful and overconfident, lay the

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

391

better attributes of honor, honesty, and generosity.

" The fur'll fly, I s'pose," he said to himself, now
freshening the fire, and still thinking of this task
after Stacy had been gone a half hour, " 'n' dern
that Penrose feller, anyway! Why don't he know
'nufif to go home when it's time? He's sartinly a
stayer! "

Then he filled his pipe again and puffed away in
glum silence for almost an hour, or until the kitchen
clock chiined eleven, and Hazel's caller departed.

Wal, he's gone finally, hez he? " he queried as
Hazel now entered the kitchen, and without a smile.
" Good deal like a burdock burr, wa'n't he, girlie? "

" Yes, father," she answered dutifully, " and an
awful bore, too. But I couldn't tell him to go, you
see ? It was Mr. Whipple that called, wasn't it ? I
recognized his voice."

" Yes, jist to talk business a few minutes, he
didn't stay long, bein' ez yew had company, I
cal'late," returned her father, then paused, watching
her still standing beside the chair Stacy had occu-
pied. "Sit down, girlie," he added the next mo-
ment. " I've got suthin' to talk over with ye.

" It's this," he added, as she obeyed, " 'n' I want
ye to take it cool, 'n' ez things are, to please me.
Now, Mr. Whipple's all right 'n' I like him, ez ye
know. But he's had a good deal on his mind lately,

392

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

:^'i

giltin' ready to tackle tlieni two sliarpers we
scooped 'n' started towards a jail, anyhow, 'n' when
he had that deed filled out in yewr name he didn't
stop to think it might leak out 'n' do harm by
shamin' ye, if it did."

" Did he say so? " interrupted Hazel, anxiously.
" He did, sartinly, but he don't know yew know
it, or anybody but the Squire 'n' I, 'n' he made the
Squire swear he wouldn't tell. 'N' I don't think
he'd best be told ye know it, 'n' feel hurt," he added
after a pause; "'twould make him feel 'shamed,
too, 'n' won't help matters."

" But why didn't he think first and not use my
name and get me talked about '- " returned Hazel
with rising anger " It's such an unusual thing that
everybody is saying he expects I will marry him
anyhow, and glad of the chance ! He has done an
almost insulting thing, and the more I think about
it, the madder I get ! "

" Fergit it then," returned her father with a light
laugh, " 'n' think how much wuss he might 'a' done !
He might 'a' tried to skin me outen the land 'stead
o' insistin' on givin' me five thousand fer it ez he
did this evenin'. Ez fer the talk. Hazel " — con-
solingly — " thar ain't a gal here but what 'ud be
tickled to pieces to hev a nicf feller like him fall
over himself to make her sich a present ez that.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 393

Ez fer him 'spectin' you to marry him "— smiling
now— "o' course he does if he kin coax ye to.
Rut that ain't no insult, either.

"'N' now to git to business," he continued
soberly, " he wants you to deed this land over to me
fer the looks on't, I'm to deed it over to his firm,
'n' that's the end o' the transaction."

" I am glad he had even so much consideration
for public opinion," Hazel responded less tartly,
" but he mustn't think he owns me or can buy me,
for he never can ! "

" O' course not, course not, no sich idee on his
part, girlie," asserted Uncle Asa in his most sooth-
ing tone, " leastwise not in the way you mean. 'N'
yet he does mean to buy ye with his name, his
feelin's, 'n' all he's got in the world, if he kin. 'N'
ye orter feel proud ye're wuth all that to him."
And Hazel, thus consoled by her tactful father, bade
him good night and left the kitchen.

"It'll all work out 'bout ez it alius does," he
mused after she had gone. " Some scrappin' 'n'
naggin' to begin, some makin'-up 'n' runnin' away
to make him chase her, 'n' he doin' it, till courtin'
days are over 'n' both sorry, same ez I was.

"But I wish that Penrose feller 'ud hike back
to Barre. He hain't no show with Hazel, 'n' he's
only in the way. now."

"' If I

Sfff"

CHAPTER XXXII

UNCLE ASA'S measure of Stacy and his
disposition to sulk if hurt was correct, tor
lie did not call upon Hazel again for
three weeks, and did not even see her except in
church the following Sunday, and then hurried
away after service to avoid meeting her. The facts
were that he was entirely unconscious how morti-
fied she had felt over the gossip regarding his use
of her name in the deed he had had drawn, and
ascribed her coolness and avoidance of him during
the camping-out episode as an occult desire to im-
press him with the fact that his society was not
especially desired by her.

" She distrusted me from the start," he assured
himself again and again while nursing this fit of
sulks; " she was half sorry for so doing when con-
vinced I wasn't the robber she imagined, and was
nice and sweet to me when we started on the camp-
ing-out trip. Then, for fear I should presume
upon it, or woman-like, not willing to own up she
was wrong — presto, she got chilly again! Then,
still further to impress rne with her total indiflfer-
394

THE CASTLE DUILnERS

395

ence, she invites this Barre (hide to call the evening
I am expected!

" It will be quite a long time before I try to see
yoi' again, Miss Iceberg ! "

In a way, too, Stacy was justified in feeling as he
did, for while the desire to get square with a dis-
reputable pair of swindlers for trying to play a
sharp game of extortion on him had been one rea-
son for his counterplotting, beyond that was the
broader and nobler one of wishing to aid that good
old Samaritan, Uncle Asa, and restore Hazel's
heritage. He had spent hundreds of dollars in this
quest, and much valuable time. He had almost ex-
asperated his partner for so much delay of their
business obligations, and now felt that the girl
he had shown his admiration for in so many
ways, and done so much to aid, miglit at least
have been ready to receive and entertain him the
first evening of his return to Oakdale. And he
had assured Uncle .Asa that he should call then !

But Stacy, while sore at heart from Hazel's
treatment, was not one to show it or let it interfere
with business in any manner. He met Uncle Asa
the next morning as cordially as ever, and soon as
both deeds were properly executed and recorded,
gave him a check for five thousand dollars as non-
chalantly as though for five cents, then after again

•[

. I

{

lit

r J

' 1

396

THF'. CASTLE BUILDERS

requesting Squire Pliitiney to keep silent regarding
tlie use of Hazel's name, invited Uncli; Asa over
to the hotel to join with Sam in the signing of their
partnership papers, and in a subsequent discussion
of how much and what land to buy. He then
joined the two surveyors in their work of mapping
out the reservoir area, location of dam, and where
to obtain stone for it, hired a few men and set
them building barracks and cooking and dining-
room adjacent to the selected site, and large enough
to take care of the hundred or more men soon to
be at work. He consulted with Bascom, and gave
':'m orders for bedding, atid a cookin-' outfit for
these, also for supplies; had a small shanty built
for his own office near the camp, and as Bascom's
store contained the only telephone coimecting Oak-
dale with Barre, he ordered a branch line joining
this with his office and hotel. With so much ac-
complished towards the contract on hand, he visited
Barre, hired about half the force of woodcl-oppers
and stone masons needed, and set them at work.
About fifty more came up later from Albion, and
within two weeks, Sam was saying to the Old
Guard " Things air hummin' now roundabout old
B'ar Hole Swamp, 'n' suthin' doin' fer sartin.

" He's a hustler, that Whipple feller, he is." Sam
added admiringly, " 'n' if I'd any idee o' what was

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THE CASTLE BUILDERS

397

in his nut tlie day he lit licre last June, I wouldn't
'a' sprung tliat liell-hulc on him cz I did. But he
don't lay it up agin me, jist took it ez 'twas meant,
'n' I respect him fer it! He's all right, 'n' all
wool, he is, 'n' goin' to be the makin' o' this 'ere
town.

" We're pards. too, in some buildin' plans in the
futur," he admitted with satisfied smile at the
group now enjoying the October afternoon sun-
shine with him on the hotel piazza, " me 'n' Uncle
Asa. 'N' some day this town'll wake up 'n' won't
know what's hit 'em, they won't! Thar'll be trol-
ley keers up to the depot, 'lectric lights a-goin'
nights all over the town, ships'll be anchorin' in
the mouth o' the crick, 'n' I wouldn't be s'prise' if
we built this hotel bigger, jist to 'conmiodate t.y
folks comin' summers, ez they will."

" 'N' look at the money he's puttin' out now,"
interrupted Bascom with satisfaction, " 'n' most on't
through me. He ain't no skinilint, he ain't. Jist
come to me 'n' ordered everything he wanted off-
hand 'thout drivin' any sort o' bargain. ' Bascora,'
he says, beginnin' to write 'em down, ' here's a list
o' things I want ye to git, 'n' make the price right
fer spot cash down, 'n' ye git it ! ' I did, too, a
check the next day arter I gin him a bill fer the
fittin's o' his shacks. He's gooj pay, anyhow, 'n'

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398 TIIR CASTLE BUILDERS

llial's what I like Ijcst in any man," he continued
gratefully; " no hangin' yc up, 'n' kecpin' yc waitin'
fer pay till the 'count gits moss on't! "

" I s'pose I might git a job bossin' so:;:;, o the
men over to the dam," drawled Lcni Atwalcr, now
catcliiiig some of this new enthusiasm. "I'd be
willin' if he wanted me. Guess I'll ask him."

" Vaas, you'd be willin' to do bossin', I'll bet," re-
joined Sam in the same drawl. " But ye'll never
do any work if ye kin duck it, Lem. Work 'n' yew
never was good friends."

V\'hile Oakdale w.-,s now all agog over Stacy's
plans and doings, and rife with gossip concerning
their outcome, its daily life was continuing in the
same even tenor as usual. Each day Uncle Levi
made his two trips to the depot and return, con-
veying one sm.ill mail pouch and an occasional
drummer. Nearly every other day Uncle Asa
pulle.l down the creek to draw his pots, and that
evening drove up to the village with his catch of
lobsters, leaving most of them at the hotel. Occa-
sionally, from fatherly interest in Stacy's appetite,
a basket of clams was added to this contribution.'
Hazel, al.so, in spite of her father's protest, had
opened school again, and each tnorning and even-
ing now trudged back and forth over the mile-and-
a-half journey thus nade obligatory, and when Sun-

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THE CASTLK BUILUE'RS

399

day came was as usual occupying lior position in tlic
choir. And her exquisite voice drew more at-
tendants than Parson Upson's ultra orthodox argu-
ments !

Gossip was also rife concerning S' icy's interest
in her and its probable result, for his gifts, sugges-
tive attentions, and use of licr name in the deed
pointed to but one conclusion. In the meantime,
Stacy, entirely unconscious of how she felt about
this matter, and of the persistent gossip, was so
busy — in f.ict so overwhelmed with care and re-
sponsibility, that he scarce knew what day of the
week it was.

Each morn, long before Hazel came up through
the village schoolward bound, he left the hotel, ate
dinner with his men to save time, and returned
when sunset came, so naturally nc- r met her. He
still nursed his pitiiu', however, and while he often
glanced down towards Maple Dell longingly in go-
ing or returning from his office near the camp, and
had almost to grit his teeth when evening came
to keep himself from calling on her again unbidden,
his fit of sulks and " stick-it-out " nature prevailed
over his heart hunger. His journey over the hills
and along a new-made road to the dam site also
brought him to a point where he could look down
upon and reconnoiter her home, and here when

400

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

alone, he invariably halted to do so, and see if
perchance she was visible. He did see her once,
thus watching, but at such a distance that he was
sure she did not recognize him. The sight of her
brought an unexpected thrill and consciousness
that he was, after all, playing a fool's part, and
gnawing a file. He also almost desired to curse
himself for being unable to put her out of his mind
and feelings.

" It's a part of the illusion, I suppose," he as-
serted to himself, philosophically, now striding on,
" and what a consummate fool that will make of
a man I "

Uncle Asa, however, wise beyond either of these
two actors in the real drama of life, saw that
something was amiss in his pet project, and was
pained accordingly. He had attended to his part,
made deposit of the five thousand dollars in Hazel's
name, and with Sam^ as bargain maker, had either
bought or obtained options on all land of which
Stacy had advised the purchase. He had also lo-
cated where roads could best be cut through the
swamp-bordering woods, shown Stacy where a
spring could be tapped by a pipe and supply the
best of water to his camp, and helped the surveyors
in many ways. All the preliminary details of
Stacy's dam and city-building plans were develop-

I i

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 401

ing in due order, but the most important — the
inner one that was to bind Stacy's interest here
— was apparently failing to materialize. Uncle
Asa was too wise and tactful even to hint this to
Stacy or Hazel, yet the fact that Stacy had not
called at his home since the first night after his
arrival for good, nor his name been mentioned by
Hazel, seemed ominous. The coast was all clear
now. Penrose, whom Uncle Asa had much de-
spised, had returned to Barre, and Hazel, as if she,
too, were piqued about something, either read in
glum silence each long evening, or hied herself
away to call on one of her girl friends. It wasn't
right, according to her father's ideas and hopes,
yet such were the facts. He also tried a diplomatic
suggestion one day, but it failed of its object.

" It's gittin' late in the season," he said to Stacy
that day when he, as usual, made his visit to the
camp to see how work was progressing, " 'n' we
won't hev many more days warm 'nuflf to go shorin'
agin this fall, I s'pose. I'd like to hev yew 'n' I
go once more, howsomever," he continued, glanc-
ing furtively at Stacy, who now looked up from
his desk as he spoke, "jist yew 'n' I 'n' Hazel
some Saturday when she's out o' school. How'd
thai strike ye, Mr. Whipple? Ye've ben workin'
stiddy now fer 'most three weeks, 'n' a day off'll

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402

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

..I

iff

do ye good, mebbe ? What do ye say to the idee ? "
" I'll do it gladly," returned Stacy smiling, fully
conscious of what was in Uncle Asa's mind. " In
fact I would enjoy another day at the shore very
much. I doubt if Miss Hazel would care to join us,
however, unless her girl friends were asked. You
can find out, though, and let me know. I am at
your service any day you say."

To have three girls along and a repetition of
what he imagined had caused Stacy's fit of sulks
on the previous outing, was not what Uncle Asa
wanted, however, so he let the matter drop.

" It's a mix-up all 'round," he asserted to himself
soon after, homeward bound, "a sorter tangle I
can't unravel. Hazel's sore over his usin' her
name on the deed, 'n' he's sulky 'count o' the way
she sent him off with the Oakes gal. On top o'
this crisscross is that Penrose feller's cuttin' him
out that evenin' he called, 'n' thar ye be ! Mebbe
luck or the Lord'II pervide a way out o' the tangle,
but I can't see one! Handlin' a couple o' balky
lovers is wuss'n breakin' in a pair o' steers ! "

Luck, however, did play a part in this complica-
tion, and speedily, too, for the very next afternoon
Stacy returning to the village two hours earlier than
usual to see Bascom about some supplies, had just
reached the main road when lie met the elusive

III

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

403

Hazel, homeward bound from her school. She
smiled and bowed with her invariable dignity, he
raised his hat, smiling, also, then halted suddenly
as she came up.

" How do you do. Miss Webster," he said, speak-
ing first in cool tone, " and how have you been
since our camping-out party .-' "

" Nicely, thank you," she returned in the same
tone. " And how have you been? Very busy,
from what I hear ? "

" Yes," he rejoined, smiling ..gain, " so busy I've
lost all count of time these days. Let me see, is it
two weeks or a month since I was down to call on
your father and didn't see you ? "

" I really couldn't say," she answered in the same
nonchalant tone. " Time passes quickly to me now
that I am teaching school again. I think I saw you
at church last Sunday, didn't I? Or was it two
weeks ago? "

" Two I should guess," he returned with furtive
glance into her impassive face, and then a halt came
to this cool and polite exchange; also an instan-
taneous conviction in Stacy's mind that neither by
word nor glance even would this icy maid allow
him to infer that she cared one iota whether she
ever saw him again or not. And almost also, did
Stacy's pique and pride win over his heart-hunger,

r>73*?!PK3*irj«£:"

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404

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

and cause him to make a polite leave-taking and
turn away.

For one long moment, a crucial one in the heart-
history of these two, Love and Pride hung at even
balance in Stacy's mind, then Love won.

" I was sorry not to see you the other evening,"
he next said in more cordial tone. " I rather ex-
pected to."

" So was I," smiling slightly again, " but I had
an unexpected caller and you left before he did.
You might try again?" she added piquantly. "I
am usually at home evenings."

" And find another caller monopolizing your com-
pany?"

" Possibly, though not probably. I have few
friends here, and those f.rom Barre have gone
home." Then, as if this vere all the encourage-
ment she would give him, she took one step onward,
then halted.

" Well, I will try again," responded Stacy with
more eagerness. "Perhaps this evening. Shall
you be at home ? "

" I expect to be," she returned, and with a
"Thank you, then I shall call," from Stacy, he
raised his hat, bowed, and turned away.

" Pretty cool, but she's worth knuckling to," he
muttered when well away from this fascinating

^th^

Jtndtmi^

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 405

maid. " And proud ? Ye gods, but that's no name
for it ! " And then recalhng her imphed invitation
to call, somehow a keen thrill of satisfaction came
with it, and forget frlness that he was still walking
upon the earth.

And something of the same buoyancy of heart
gave Hazel's homeward footsteps a new resiliency !

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i I

CHAPTER XXXIII

IN spite of Hazel's first pique and vexation over
Stacy's use of her name in the deed, and the
consequent gossip, what her father had said
and her own good sense had — during this three
week's interim — softened the poignant barb, so to
speak, and liealed the wound. Pride, also, was a
factor, for his not calling again for so long was not
flattering in the face of her girl friends' opinions
of his eligibility, so freely expressed; and beyond
that, what he had actually done for her father
gradually appealed to her most of all. The one
other sore spot in her feelings — the idea that he
felt he could buy her — was also healing. Then
again, like leaven in the mixture of many emotions,
there were her own feelings. She was not in love
with him as yet, felt positive her sole duty in life
was devotion to her father, she loved her own
freedom and meant to retain it ; and yet, despite all
this, Stacy's bold, assertive ways, his well-proved
business sagacity and lofty sense of honor, and
more especially his devotion to her father's interests,
406

&!:• jwr:: ■ ^iii^"-«%tK.^.v.<r?.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 407

all known to her, were factors that kept his face
in her mind at all times.

" He is a man among men in spite of his sulkii:«!ss
and imperious ways," her heart kept saying, and
when he capitulated, so to speak, that crucial mo-
ment on the highway, a sudden consciousness of her
own power and worth and what it meant to him,
brought a keen thrill of satisfaction. It is also need-
less to say that when he presented himself at the
throne of her gracious consideration that evening,
she was garbed in her most becoming evening gown,
vases filled with bunches of scarlet and yellow leaves
graced the parlor, and a cheerful fire added its
welcoming charm. And best of all, Hazel her-
self, who with cheeks reflecting a faint touch of the
glowing flames and eyes unusually tender, made the
supreme and crowning feature of this homelike
room.

It is said that men marry with their eyes and
women with their ears, and something of the same
motive force now gave a bias to Stacy's feelings.
For three weeks he had been starving himself for
Hazel's face through pique. Each day about the
only ones he had seen (excluding Norah's) had been
the scores of coarse, hard-featured, or swarthy ones
of his workmen ; and evenings, the brown, wrinkled,

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408

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

III*

seldom-shaven faces of Sam and the Old Guard,
or that of Uncle Asa. So that now to have the
piquant, exquisitely-tinted and animated one of
Hazel's smiling at him, seemed like a gift from the
gods!

And very grateful was he for it.

" Your fire recalls our evening at the shore," he
said, after she had installed him in an easy chair one
side of it and herself opposite, " and all the romance
of it, also. I have lived that eveni 'g over again
many times since, and always hear ne low wave-
wash when I do, and your banjo as well."

" Living over pleasant hours and experiences is
the best part of them, I think," she returned dream-
ily, as if now recalling this one. " Much depends
upon one's moods, however, at the time. That is,
whether we a.e in a receptive one or not."

" You believe in moods then ? "

" Why, yes, how can one help it ? It's like a
sense of obligation that forces itself upon you and,
as Emerson says, ' Life is but a succession of moods,
varying ever like those of a kaleidoscope.' Mine
are, anyway, and what I say and do in one, I am apt
to repent of in another."

" That recalls Sam and his observation about his
mine certificate," rejoined Stacy with a smile.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

409

" He has it framed to keep and prove how many
kinds of fool a man can be and live, he says."

" So I have heard," responded Hazel, also smil-
ing. " Not much happens here without all Oakdale
hearing of it."

" My comings and goings and all about my plans,
also, I presume," queried Stacy, seeing a faint light.

" Of course, and to a greater extent than you
imagine, I presume " — glancing curiously at him.
" To live here is like dwelling in a glass house that
keeps no secrets."

" Not even those promised to be kept inviolate on
honor?" questioned Stacy, seeing more light.

"Very few," flushing and looking down; "and
worse than that, what we don't say and do, but might
or might not, is also discussed."

For one long moment Stacy stared at the fire
while this suave admission with its occult insinua-
tion was digested, then a sudden impulse to admit
his own mistakes came.

" Miss Webster," he said earnestly, " you have
opened my eyes io a situation here I wasn't aware
of, and I am sorry for what I now see was an un-
wise act on my part, though meaning no harm, and
quite thoughtless. Did you hear that I had a deed
of Bear Hole Swamp drawn in your name before I

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THE CASTLE BUILDERS

took your father to New York ? I mean before he
asked you to sign another one over to my firm ? "

" I did," she answered, flushing again. " I was
told of it the morning we started on our camping-
out trip."

Then Stacy gave a low and prolonged whistle, for
now the origin of all his vexation was made clear.

" So much for trusting a man's word of honor,"
he next said with sarcastic inflection, " or believing
he can keep a secret. I feel like cowhiding Squire
Phinney." And without waiting for any response
from Hazel he hurriedly gave her an accurate ac-
count of his reasons for using her name in the deed.

" 1 dared not take the chance and go to this Curtis
North with my name or your father's in the deed,"
he added in conclusion, " for my act was, after all,
a game of extortion. This swin r had actually
bought and paid full price for the ' id, you see, and
the next best plan was to use you. j, because I knew
you would transfer the property back to us if your
father said so. My action, and I was forced to it,"
he added regretfully, "has cost you a great deal of
humiliation, I am sure, by being gossiped about, and
me three weeks of lonesome evenings when I
■anted to be down here calling on you."

Then Hazel grew rose-red, for this was almost a
confession of love.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 411

"I am sorry for tht last part," she admitted
naively ; " tlie other I don't care atout now. It did
hurt me at first, however, for I did not understand
it. I've grown used to the gossiping tongues now,
and don't care about them," slie added hastily, " so
long as my own conscience is c'.^ar." She pauMcl
with downcast eyes. One instant only, wliile Stacy
watched lier admiringly, then looked up. " I, too,
am sorry for something," she next asserted, " and
that is my own neglect in thanking you for all you
have done for father. It has lifted a load from his
heart and made him ten years younger. I should
have done so that day at the sliore. I do so now
and from the bottom of my heart."

" Forget it, please," rejoined Stacy briskly, " for
I am still in your debt for having so mortified you.
Also, let me assure you that I, too, feel that your
father is worth doing a good turn for any time. I
haven't forgotten how nice he was to me when I
came here, or the glorious shortcake you prepared
for us that day," he added, as if wishing to dismiss
the more serious matter. "I only hope I shall
be here when strawberries come again, and get an-
otlier. I presume I shall, for we have quite a con-
tract on hand."

" So I understand," with sudden interest, " for
father keeps me informed about your doings. I'd

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412

THE CASTLK BUILDERS

like to cmne up and see your buikling operations
some Saturday. May I ? "

"Most certainly, delighted to have you," witJi
eagerness. " Come any time and bring all your
girl friends." And i.'ki, as might be expected, he
launched into a description of his work and how it
was carriL ' on. "I hope to have the dam up by
spring," he explained in conclusion, " and the
swamp cleared by then, or at least all available tim-
ber hauled out, and the brush ready to burn. When
the dam is done and we are ready to close the gates,
I shall have my partner and my good aunt, who
adopted me years ago, come up; also invite every-
body here to help celebrate that event. Give them
a feast.

"A clambake, perhaps," he added after a mo-
ment's thought. "That wouldn't be a bad idea,
would it, with your father as its master spirit?

" And now to change the subject," he continued,
after this liad been fully discussed, and smiling,
"you have listened patiently to all my prosy dis-
quisition on dam building, let me do some listening
while you favor me. You can guess how," and he
nodded towards the piano.

" With pleasure," smiling at his original way of
asking. "Which shall it be — piano, harp, or
banjo?"

THE CASTLK BUILDERS 413

" The harp first so I can go back to the fir«< time
I saw you, and a few songs later. My thr :s'

penance for my sins and Sam's company evenings
has made ;:ie nuisic-hungry — starved, in fact."

"So I judge by your modest request," she re-
torted smiling; "but if you feel you have lieen
properly punished for your unsocial conduct, you
shall be rewardeil."

And reward him she did, without urging and with
an hour-long medley of her choicest musical gems.
She then brought in a tray of light refreshments,
urged him to enjoy a cigar after that, freshened the
fire, and drew her own chair up for further con-
verse, and so the evening passed.

And a delightful one it was to Stacy, now more
in love than ever with this daintily beautiful, tact-
ful, and charming little lady who had the rare art of
inspiring his best thoughts, and being an apprecia-
tive listener as well. She really did mean to be
entertaining, also, not from any desire to ensnare —
that was beneath her — but from a gracious wish
to show her appreciation of what he had done for
her father. Also, and beyond that, to make amends
for her own previous distrust and coolness. He
noticed, too, that she wore the beautiful slippers he
had sent her; the books of his selection were all
conspicuou>i upon the parlor table; and more flat-

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414

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

tering even than those evidences of her occult tact,
was the persistency with which she kept him talking
about his own plans and city-building intentions.

And if there is any one thing more flattering to
a man than another (and most men hunger for it),
it is to keep him talking about himself I And the
sweetest flattery of all, is to have a charming lady
do it!

" I have had a most delightful evening, Miss
Webster," he assured her at parting; " how much so
you can't realize unless you know the scope and
ancient story-telling proclivities of Sam's retinue,
which I've had to endure now for three weeks. I
trust I may impose upon your charity again, and
often?"

" I shall be pleased to see you any evening," she
responded, smiling archly; "and if I have callers
and your courage fails, you can take refuge behind
the grindstone again. I hope it will not, however."

And once more as he now strode d iwn the leaf-
c-irpeted lane, the light pressure of her little hand
at parting was with him, the rustling of the brown
leaves beneath his feet was like the tinkle of tiny
bells, and a wonrfrous, newborn buoyancy of feel-
ing, made the star-lit night seem glorious.

" I am in for it, and no escape now," he said,
measuring his own feelings philosophically, and

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

415

fully conscious of what this elation meant. " It's
either yes or no, heaven or the other place for me,
that's certain 1 But bless her sweet soul, she's
worth it, ten times over ! "

When he reached the hotel his only welcome was
one small lamp left burning for him, but by it he
despatched a rather laconic missive.

" Dear Bert," he wrote. " Send me three dozen
American Beauty roses by express, and have them
here by Saturday, sure. Yours ever, Stacy."

Then, in order that his letter would go out on the
n.: -ning mail, he hastened over to Bascom's store
to post it.

He received an answer by due return of mail, and
said reply must also be quoted.

" Order for flowers received and shipped to-day.
Bill for fifteen dollars enclosed." his partner wrote,
" and may you be happy ever after. I am sure you
are in Oakdale. Also the girl. I assume you are
attending to our business part rf the time, but that
is only a guess. When is the wedding? Yours,
Bert."

CHAPTER XXXIV

hi i
I'ii

MOODS dominate the action of a man in
love more than at any other period of
his existence, and so it was with Stacy.
He had felt himself ill-used by Hazel and nursed
his pique for three weeks, suffering accordingly,
and then when her adroit hint of her own feelings
and cordial reception had effectually obliterated his
sense of injury, he felt in a mood to rush headlong
into a proposal of marriage. His good sense, and
the consciousness that Hazel could not be won
lightly still ruled him, however ; he also felt that he
had better go slowly in the matter, and pay court
to her for a few months before risking the all-
important question.

"One robin doesn't bring spring, or one smile
mean a woman is won," he said to himself the next
morning on his way over to the camp and halting
to reconnoiter Hazel's home once more, "and I'd
better be cautious and not slop over with you, my
sweet Iceberg! She is keen enough to understand
the drift of every word or act of mine," he added,
now striding on. " She will know, or knows al-
416

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 417

ready, that I mean to win her if I can, and for the
rest, when she feels ready to say ' yes,' she will give
me an adroit hint of it."

In this latter conclusion, however, he was mis-
taken, as many a man has been before. In business
matters, Stacy, as may be inferred, was methodical,
and mvariably laid his plans far ahead of their pos-
sible consummation, as he had in this city-building
air castle of his. Naturally, also, he now went
about his plots and plans of love-making in the same
manner.

" I mustn't bore her," he said to himself again
and returning to the subject now uppermost in his
mind after he had made the rounds of his gangs of
men at work that morning. "Her isolated life
with her books and music has made her self-con-
tained and analytical. There is no society here, so
she doesn't need an escort. Her school furnishes
her diversion enough, so if I win her at all, it must
be by so apper'^ng to her mind that she will come
to need my company, and for that I've got to keep
my wits awake, polished, and with an edge on all
the time."

And in this conclusion le was quite right !

While Stacy was now sure to be building the air
castle of love, the more practical one of his dam
and reservoir still intruded, and must intrude for

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THE CASTLE BUILDERS

months to come. He had by this time about fifty
men at work digging, quarrying and squaring stone,
and hauling it to the dam site. Also as many more
felling the trees bordering the two-mile long by
one-quarter wide area of Bear Hole Swamp, or
cutting and piling the brush in the morass part of
it, ready for a grand conflagration when spring
came again. A cook and "cookee," or assistant,
were kept very busy feeding these, they must be
detai'-fd in gangs with sub-bosses to direct opera-
tions, and wliat with supplies to be kept coming, the
general plan of all work to be directed by Stacy,
order preserved, and details looked after, he was
busy from morning until night. In a way, also,
his operations, and the rude barracks with their
cook-room and dining-room amid the pines below
the dam site, much resembled a lumber camp in the
woods. It was out of -ight or sound of the village,
the grand old trees filling the gorge below the site
chosen between two abutting hills, and tlie leaping,
brawling stream, added romance to the seclusion.
Uncle Asa, with a fatherly interest in Stacy and the
all-important operations, usually paid the camp a
daily visit, and when he came again, on the after-
noon after Stacy had made his peace witli Hazel,
so to speak, that young man was more an.xious to go
shoring again than previously.

[■!, J>ji,i i

r^^^¥WM^m

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 419

" I've thouglit over your suggestion to make an-
other trip to the shore, Uncle Asa," he said to him,
coming to the point at once, " and as to-morrow is
Saturday and Miss Hazel free from school, if slie is
willing and you say the word, I am with you."

" Wal, that suits me," was the smiling rejoinder,
" 'n' I'll tell Hazel slie's wanted by both on us. I
don't cal'late we need the other gals, do we? "

" No, decidedly not," returned Stacy, noticing the
amused twinkle in Uncle Asa's eyes ; " just we three
and a warm day is enough."

"Wal, I guess we'll git it," responded that
weather-wise man, squinting at the lowering sun,
" 'n' I'm powerful glad yew'll git away.

" I alius sorter want to hang onto the warm fall
days," he added with a shade of pathos, " '11' make
the most on 'em. They don't last long. I dread
winters more 'n' more, 'n' thar ye be."

And so it came to pass the next day that these
three good friends with plenty of wraps, basket of
table accessories, and good spirits galore, once more
followed the ebb tide's outflow down the winding
creek.

" I'll pull my pots," said Uncle Asa after land-
ing, " 'n' yew two must keep house till I'm back."
And thus exhorted to become domestic, Hazel and
Stacy were left to their own fate.

'I<S-

420

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And both were very willing!

" Why is it," queried Stacy after the table had
been made ready and driftwood for fire duly gath-
ered, " that cooking and eating away in the woods
or beside the shore is attractive to so many people? "

"Just the romance of it, I presume," smiled
Hazel, " or to escape the trammels of home life.
To be able to eat like a savage and throw clam shells
on the ground as we do here. What is your
theory ? "

" Inherited instinct, I am inclined to think," re-
turned Stacy, glancing up the long stretch of wave-
washed shore, "and the habits of our primal an-
cestors. They lived a savage life. To obtain,
cook, and eat food was their principal and most
enjoyable occupation, so we, inheriting that impulse
and pleasure, obtain an unusual satisfaction by im-
itating their way of living. I find myself envying
my men in their crude life in the Bear Hole gorge,
sitting around camp fires under the pines each even-
ing as they do. As I recall them, the pleasantest
days of my life have been those spent camping in
some wilderness."

"You are much like father in that respect,"
Hazel answered, smiling at Stacy's animated face.
" The most enjoyed of all his days have been spent

«::■'*

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 421

here, and he has always brought me, if possible,
since I was a little tot."

"This is a sort of trysting spot for you two,
then, and why he brought us all here for the camp-
ing-out party, I guess."

" Of course, and it makes him like a boy again,
for which I am more than thankful."

" And my coming and plans are to spoil this spot
for him," continued Stacy regretfully, glancing
around its isolated condition. And it was very
much so, for the scattered houses of Oakdale four
miles up the opening valley and Uncle Asa's fish-
house and little wharf inside the sand spit were all
the visible signs of human handiwork, while to
right and left lay the in-and-out curving, wave-
washed beach, far as the eye could see. Not a
house or solitary human being was in sight along
this lonely shore with jagged and serrated bulwarks
of sedge-topped sand forming the inner coast line.
Back of this lay a growth of low scrub rising to the
wooded hills and just now ablaze with autumn color,
and thousands of barberry bushes vividly red from
ripened berries.

" I don't wonder your father loves this spot, Miss
Webster," Stacy asserted again after his prolonged
look around and up and down the white, glistening

422 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

beach with here and there a flock of gulls circling
over it or alighting upon a point of sand, " for here
one can forget the world and feel that he is by the
world forgot.

"How does it aflfect you, Miss Hazel?" he
queried after a pause, and venturing so to address
her. " Pardon my freedom, but I'd like to drop
formality and use your given name now. May I? "
" You may call me Hazel here or at home," she
responded naively and with a dreamy glance at the
yeasty wave-wash not two rods from where they
sat. " I, too, dislike formal addresses."

And just then Stacy, glancing at her half-averted
face, rose-tinted by the sea wind and crowned by a
mobcap of soarlet, below which a few locks were
astray, felt a new sense of proprietorship, and that
he had won a long step towards her confidence and
possible love.

"You must excuse my pr"Occupation," she
averred suddenly, turning toward him after a long
pause; " what were you asking a moment ago? "

"Why, how thi? lone and lonely shore affects
you. How does it?"

" As you see "— smiling—" puts iti'- 'n a trance,
a dream, and makes me forget my ™ds, my
school, everything, and everybody, as i .lave now.
This spot and mood has been mine many times be-

'"Twy

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

423

fore," she added with more animation. " It's been
my playmate, as it were, since a child. Then I used
to help father dig clams or sit in the bow of his
boat and watch him pull pots out on the tossing
billows. Now I have become a dreamer, I guess,
for lately I've let him go out alone while I stay
ashore and enjoy my trance. I've sat right here
alone three long hours many a time, and quite un-
conscious of the lapse of time ; also quite happy."
" And would be now if alone, I assume? "
" Why, yes and no," glancing at him with droll
smile. " I'm glad to have company, but I don't
need it to be content. Do you always ? "
" I must also say yes and no. I am not

" ' A hermit soul that can live withdrawn
To the place of its self-content,'

as Sam Walter Foss says. I can go to that solitary
retreat and abide a few hours happily, then my
thoughts begin to bore me and I sigh for company
— a congenial soul upon whom I can inflict my
musings."

" And can you find such a one easily? " glancing
nt him with an amused smile. " I never could.
Most pe(ipU bore n\e. I like them in a way. Like
to be told their joys, sorrows, and moods, briefly
and for a time, and then, pusto : after that they be-
gin to bore me atwt I'd rather be alone."

424

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

)■■

" You can then live ' in the place of your self-
content ' and be happy, I assume?" smiled Stacy,
peeping at her again.

" Why, yes, to be perfectly honest, I think I can.
The only person who never did bore me is father.
We go around together, often an hour without once
speaking, and quite happy. I think it's because we
both feel that we need not talk if we don't want to;
just be together or within sight, that is all."

" Two hermit souls, eh ? " queried Stacy, more
than ever interested in this dreamy one beside him
" And yet I envy you both. It is a splendid thing
to be content without company. It has been well
said that those who are good company to themselves
are pleasant companions to have, however. It is so
with your father, I know. I've had quite a number
of long visits with him and every moment enjoy-
able. How will it be between you and me should
you guess?"

"That is easily answered," she returned archly
and eyes atwinkle like her father's ; " we shall often
almost come to blows as we did that first evening
when father interfered, or I shall bore you intensely.

" ' New people are like old wine,' to quote Emer-
son again," she continued more seriously. " They
pique, amuse, interest, or exasperate us as the case
may be for a time, then after we come to kaow

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

42s

them, seem commonplace. All but a select few,
who become friends akin to us. That has been my
experience. Also that to have a very few friends
and dear ones is better than to have a host of
acquaintances."

" And mine as well," agreed Stacy. " Strangers
wear a halo, friends never do, and a hero is never
one to his valet. To become commonplace to those
we like and wish to have like us is pitiful. We
want them to enjoy us, we desire to enjoy them, yet
perpetually on guard stands the Ogre of Satict;. and
Commonplaceness, an invisible personage whisper-
ing, ' Keep apart, lest ye bore one another.' That is
your idea, isn't it ? "

" In a way, yes, and yet not," she answered mus-
ingly. "I feel as you do about friends. I want
mutual enjoyment to come. I positively dread to
feel a sense of boredom. I try to avoid it as much
as possible. To that end, and because of this out-
tome, I also avoid too intimate relations ; too close
contact of mind with mind. It's far safer for souls
to dwell apart."

" The herm't soul again," laughed Stacy. " I
shall soon believe you have one after all."

" I think I have, too," she returned with aive
frankness. " I've lived alone in thought since old
enough to think for myself. All my real friends

426

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

ii !•

iiatii.

who never bore me are my books and fatlier, so I
have become a hermit soul, I guess. I am satistk-d.
however. To be able to live alone contentedlv is
to attain self-reliance, and that is no easy task.
Can you ? " And she turned her fathomless eyes
full upon Stacy now.

" No," he admitted, seeing a chance to score a
point; " if I could, I wouldn't be here sitting on the
sand with you. I'd be attending to my duty at the
dam.

" And by the way," he added, noting her slight
flush following his assertion, " when are you to
honor my new enterprise with your presence, as you
promised? Won't you come up and inspect it now
that we have — buried the hatchet ? "

" I wasn't aware we owned one of those ominous
things," she answered, smiling, " and I will visit
your camp next Saturday morning with father
and perhaps some of the girls. They are all anx-
ious to see what you are doing. When will it be
finished? "

" In seven months, I hope. I mean to close the
gates on my birthday. May eleventh, and to cele-
brate that by so doing. I hope you will do the
honors on that occasion and lower the gate; also
break the customary bottle of wine over it."

Then, as was natural with him, he gave her a

THE CASTLE DUILDERS

Ai?

brief resumj of his progress and plans in this work,
and they were more condensed I. a siial, for her
hint of being easily bored had born fruit. Then,
returning from a stroll doivn the beach to watch a
flock of gulls that had alit^lncd upon a bared sand-
bar, they met Untie Asa just landing at his wharf.

" I've had big luck I'l-dii^, " he asserted buoyantly,
in response to St:u - nsiiul query, and divesting
himself of his twiaUs. " Got n-M'c!) ez fifty
pounds, 'n' saved sli irts lUitT fi r a f;ood boil.

" We'll have a feast ,i(.,v " 'e .t 'ded, p,issing the
basket of lobsters to Sl.i' y. " I'm liunj;ry 'nuflf
to eat a mule with the harness on. Iluw are you
children?"

He next busied himself in the fire building; his
big iron pot was brought from the fish house by
Stacy, and with salt water in it was put r.ver that to
boil. He next went to the spring to bring water
for coffee, and then began helping Ha:?el set the
table, and soon a most toothsome meai of those
chicken lobsters with plenty of butter and hot cof-
fee was ready. Hazel had also brought a few
other delicacies for dessert, and after the feast
Uncle Asa hurried away to dig a mess of clams, as
the bared flats now permitted.

" He means to leave us alone as much as possi-
ble," Stacy asM rted to himself, next hastening away

'ill

428

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

J /!*■

Lt*|

to bring more water for dish-washing use, " and
bless his dear old heart for it! He is of the salt
of the earth, and all wool — no, all silk! And
Hazel ? Well, you are a keen one and no mistake I
1( I can court you without boring you, I'm smart;
that is all ! "

And Stacy was duly and decidedly right in that
surmise.

He smiled at himself later on, in fact, laughed
aloud as he began wiping the dishes that Hazel
washed.

" If my partner could see me now," he declared
in response to her inquiry, " he'd shout with insane
hilarilv. And my Aunt Carrie, mother, I call her
— well, she'd want to kiss you, Miss Hazel."

"Would she, and v.'. '" queried that little lady
demurely, also fully conscious how fast this asser-
tive young man was becoming enamored of her own
sweet self.

" Well, in the first place, because she, being of
rural birth, admires country-born girls; and next,
she has a most- — motherly interest in me," re-
sponded Stacy, not quite daring to admit the truth
or how anxious his aunt was he should win this
m.nid.

" Most of my friends would laugh, also, to see
me wiping dishes," lie continued hurriedly, " and

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 429

it is funny, and the first time I ever did so. I hope
I may have the privilege again, and right liere with
you."

" I think we had better go and lielp father and
wash his clams and leave the dishes to dry," re-
joined Hazel, as soon as she handed the last one to
Stacy, and to forestall further love utterances from
him. "We are leaving father to do all the hard
work." And quite oblivious to her own shoes, she
led the way out upon the clam flats where he was
doubled over.

And Stacy felt like picking her up and carrying
her; also like taking his coat oflf for her to stand
upon. He forgot his own boots as well in this new
call; forgot his cuffs, his new fall suit — in fact,
forgot everything except the one supreme fact that
he was now bon-comrade with this exquisite little
lady, and privileged to call her Hazel. He also
rushed back to the fish house to bring her j board
to stand upon as soon as he noticed how wet the
sand was. whereupon Uncle .\sa smiled serenely.

" Mce feller, 'n' thinks quick, which is what I
like in him," he ejaculated, looking up to .see what
Stacy was after. " 'N' say, girlie." he added ten-
derly, " don't lay <ip that deed matter agin him any
more, -ill ye? He didn't mean 110 harm, jist
thoughtless, that's all. '.\' 'member this, he may

: '

430

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

be bossy 'n' sulky, but if he's handled right, he'll
be all right. I've got faith in him." And having
thus adjured his well-beloved " girlie " he bent to
his work again.

" I'm mighty glad we took the day oflF 'n' come,"
he asserted a half-hour later, after all their belong-
ings were stored in his small dory, and Hazel, well
wrapped by Stacy, had taken the bow seat. " Pow-
erful glad, I tell ye, children. Fust, because we've
had a day 'n' dinner to think on, 'n' live over all
winter, 'n' tliat's some comfort to me. I like this
spot, Stacy," he added, addressing him, after tak-
ing his seat and glancing back at the wave-washed
shore. " Like it bctter'n anywliere else in all the
world. I've sometimes thought I'd build me a
shack 'ii' live here all summer. I may do it yit, jist
to be near the water, 'n' hear it nights. Nothin'
like the lullin' o' the waves to go to sleep by," he
continued more earnestly, " 'spesldy when ye git old
'n' .sleep comes hard. 'N' then niornin's here with
the sun jist risin' 'n' the breeze blowin' in, 'n' right
back in the bushes birds a-singin' ! Wal, 'cordin'
to my notion, it's 'bout cz near to heaven ez I'll ever
git. I'd hcv to come to mcetin' once in a while to
hear Hazel sing," he continued tenderly, as if her
future was to be apart from his. " 'N' o' course
she'll hev to come 'n' slick the shack up now 'n'

r-*:«i

¥M

THE CASTL1-: EUILDF.RS

431

then 'n' hev dinner with me. Couldn't git along
'thoiit seein' Hazel once a week, anyhow." And
then as if this quite romantic outcome 'vere his last
will and testament, he bent to his oars in sturdy
silence.

" I want tc call Sunday eve ; may I ? " queried
Stacy in a low tone when he parted from Hazel at
the foot of the lane. And with her smiling, " I
shall he glad to see you," he strode away.

And so ended a day that he never afterwards
recalled without feeling that it ushered in a new
existence for him. as in truth it did.

A quite suggestive and pretty surprise awaited
Hazel in her parlor, also, for there in two vases
were the three-dozen roses Stacy had ordered sent
to himself, and which his partner had wisely directed
to Miss Hazel Webster.

" They came this arternoon," Aunt Sally ad-
mitted, " 'n' ez the box said ' flowers,' I put 'em in
water to keep."

And then there cime to Hazel a queer little tug at
her heart-string.s, for what with all her father had
said that day. and her fast-changing fi-eling towards
Stacy, it seemed her own future was already deter-
mined, as in a wav it was.

CHAPTER XXXV

^ID a box come for me to-day, Sam?"
demanded Stacy of that worthy on his
return, and after reading his partner's
laconic missive.

" No-o," drawled Sam with a comical twinkle in
his eyes. " Uncle Levi only fetched one box from
the train to-day. ' Big box o' flowers,' he said,
' fer Hazel Webster.' Mebbe it come from that
Barre feller ez was here so long. He war kinder
stuck on her, folks said." And Sam followed that
assertion with a droll grin at Stacy.

That evening, also, with Stacy for sole companion
— the Old Guard for a wonder being absent — he
also relieved his mind, and made a few other admis-
sions that in justice to him must be quoted.

" I s'pose you think my jokes are kinder hard
on folks, Mr. Whipple." he b<g,in with as soon as
Stacy liail lighted hi< after-supper cigar, " 'n' mebbe
they be, but I don't rr-.-an no harm. Things are
kinder .■ilmv in this hotel fer me. Nothin' doin' but
see to the grub part, tend fires, 'n' set 'round waitin'
fer folks to come 'ii' go. 'n' I need lixcnin' up, I
432

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

433

do. Then agin tliar's some o' the drummers comes
here, they really need suthin to show 'em we ain't
asleep ef we don't hev our hair cut once a week.
I like the drummers ; most on 'em are slickers, full
o' fun, sharper'n tacks, square's a brick, 'n' alius
pay. They all lay fer me, though, knowin' my ways
'n', b'gosh, they ketch me now 'n' thea Thar war
one on 'em did once, mighty cute, too, 'n' scared
me so I bit my tongue. He war a cigar drummer
name o' Cady, Byron Cady, 'n' the funniest story
teller on the pike. Alius got two or three new ones,
'n' kin tell 'em jist right, too. Wal, he cnmc 'long
with one o' them loaded cigars he'd had made fer
me, fixed with a spring inside so when it burned an
inch the spring' ud spread 'n' rip it all to pieces right
under your nose. ' Sam,' he said that evenin' when
we was all 'round the fire, ' I got a new brand o'
clear Havana, Sumatra wrapper, that'll jist suit ye,
'n' yer trade, 'n' I want ye to try one.' Then he
goes to his case, opens it front o' me, takes the cigar
out o' a box full 'n' o' course I lit it, fer when he
gives ye a cigar it's alius a good un. Wal, then I
tihed back in my chair 'n' he begins tellin a funny
story 'bout a Frenchman who run a ferry boat, 'n'
he kin hit off them Frenchies' lingo talk so ye'll
split a-laughin' ! Wal, I war pullin' at that cigar
jist ez he got to the funny part, 'n' then it went off

:, i

434

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

'n' over I went back'ards, kerwhack, n' he 'n' the
whole bunch jist roared fer ten minutes.

" Wal, o' course I took it good-natured ; I had to,
but I laid fer Cady, 'n' the next time he come 'long
I was ready with 'bout a dozen blue crabs I got
down tlie crick. Now a blue crab, Mr. Whipple, cz
ye njay not know, is a little cuss 'bout two inches
broad with claws sharp ez needles, 'most, 'n' he kin
use 'em quicker'n scat, 'n' bite hard ez a big lobster.
Wal, Cady, he's a slick dresser, never goes out even-
in's 'thout his top coat 'n' gloves on, 'n' the next
time he come, 'n' when he put on his coat to go call
on Bascora, ez I knew he would, thar wa'n't no
gloves in his pockets, but them crabs was. O'
course I cal'lated Cady ud feel fer them gloves 'n'
ketch crabs, but it didn't somehow work. He pui
his coat on back o' the desk in the office whar he'd
hung it back o' the door, wa'n't over a minute 'bout
it, 'n' walked out smilin'. He'll find them crabs
perty soon, I says to myself, chucklin', 'n' then
thar'll be suthin doin'. I waited 'most an hour,
then needin' a chew went to my coat hangin' in the
office, too, ez I'd left a plug o' tobaccer in an out-
side pocket, 'n' by crackee, I got pinched by three o'
them crabs quicker'n scat ! 'N' by gosh, they took
holt right sharp, they did !

" The worst on't was I gin a yip 'fore I thought

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

435

'n' threw one 'o them crabs over the desk, 'n' the
hull crowd I'd posted up ketched on, 'n' the laugh
was on me. 'N' how they roared! I had to set
'em up all round, 'n' when Cady come in they told
him I'd bin cliewin' blue crabs fer a change, 'n' it
cost me 'nother round."

Sam was a voluble talker as well as inveterate
joker, and while Stacy's thoughts were now on
Hazel and the sweet illusion of love, instead of
Sam's yarns, he had to listen to them for an hour.

Next morning, and a beautiful October one,
Stacy joined the Sunday worsliippers then entering
the largest church where Hazel sang and here a .sur-
prise awaited him, for on its aluir siuod a vase of
beautiful American Beauty roses!

" My contribution to her," lie thought, " and she
brought them up this morning, bless her! And
Bert was wise to send them to her direct after all."
Tlien smiled softly, as he now recalled hi.", laconic
letter.

He watched for Hazel's piquant face to rise
al)ove the choir curtains, felt himself transported
to that "Beautiful Land on High" she sang as a
solo later on, and felt almost a sense of ovvnersliip
in lier now, and that his future held a new and
wondrously sweet charm. He waited for her to
come out tliis lime, received a sliglil bow and cordial

436

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" Good morning " as she passed him on the steps,
then crossed to the hotel, conscious that many of
that congregation had observed this recognition and
were positive he was now Hazel's " beau." Also
quite proud to be so consk)er«d, as well he might
be!

Somehow, also, the rest of the day seemed in-
terminable. He hied himself away over the hills
to his camp after dinner, halted to reconnoiter
Hazel's home on the way, took a look around the
works and at his men, now lounging under the pines,
smoking or asleep, returned and wrote a lengthy
letter to his partner, also one to his worthy aunt;
and then after the manner of all lovers, hastened to
the home of his charmer as early that evening as he
dared.

His reception was in line with his feelings, for
that occult little lady, conscious that she owed him
quite a debt of gratitude for all he had done, meant
to be charming and favor him with an enjoyable
evening; also realizing that her pique ovr tlij deed
matter had been largely imaginary. He found a
bright fire adding cheer to the soft-shaded, lamp-lit
parlor, a portion of his gift of roses conspicuous
upon the center-table, one half-open one in her
glossy crown of braided hair, and lierself in rose-
tmlcd gown adding a smiling wekome. And just

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 437

now after the usual greetings and when both were
seated on opposite sides of the fire, she seemed to
him the most exquisitely beautiful little lady in all
the wide world! While she — well, just then it
seemed that he made her parlor seem smaller!

For a mail of his physique, sturdy and forceful,
always commanded her respect.

"I thank you most gratefully for the beautiful
rc■,•.^ I found awaiting me last evening," she said
first of all, " and they were such a surprise."

" I'm glad they came on time," Stacy returned,
smiling; " also that you were thouglitful enough to
add charm to the church by a part of them. And
by the way," wishing to check further allusion to
his gift, " where did you find, or who is the author
of that solo you rendered so charmingly? It is a
gem and new to me. It just lifted me right into the
pearly city we all hope to reach."

"Oh. that 'Beautiful Land on High'?" smiled
Hazel. "Its author is a Mrs. A. H. Tay.ur, and
it is my favorite. It carries just the mood I love
best in church music, faith and licipe combined, with-
out the minor funereal tone I so dislike."

" It certainly carried me where I heard angels'
wings rustling and saw them smiling." returned
Stacy. " I shall expect it ne.\t Sunday again."

" Becoming converted, are you ? " iiucried she

™f-.

W^^eF^si^Sr'

438

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

archly. "Mr. Upson will be delighted. Shall I
speak to him?"

" Yes, if you like, and tell him if you can be per-
suaded to sing all the time, I will join his church at
once."

" And he have no voice? No chance to preach?
That would break his heart. He believes his ser-
mons are all saving grace, especially those upon his
favorite theme: the doom of all sinners. You don't
admire such, I once heard you assert,"

" No," responded Stacy bluntly, " I do not.
Brimstone Corner is out of date now. Hope and
Faith are all right and lovely, but the theory of a
God who would punish eternally is an outrage
upon the highest conceptions of Him I But pardon
me, religious discussions should be tabooed outside
of a pulpit. We once came near a quarrel upon
that subject. I'd rather hear you sing."

" Then you consider women should be merely
entertaining." smiling suavely. " Not have opin-
ions, I infer? "

" Hardly that. I believe they should be enter-
taining and always charming, if possible. But an
acrid discussion upon religious opinions is both
frtile and unwise. It is a case of every one liaving
a right to his own opinion so long as it agrees with
ours. Otherwise not."

THE CASTLK BUILDERS

43'^

"To agree not to disagree. look pleasant, smile
and sing, but have no .ipiniuns is our pruper rule,
you think? To be a nin-Ii of concessiim? "

"On the subject of nllgion, yes; on all others,
no," he reliirneil as suavely. " A lady wlm has no
opinion is usually a bore. I wai t tiaiii to 'ive nie
battle on any ami all topics except religion."

"And why not that?" she persisted. 'Why
shouldn't we discuss that?"

" Simply because it' a personal o nviction. a
matter of blind faith upon hich arguments are
wa.ii'd. I do not apply that to you fair ones espe-
cially. I mean among mei aKo.

" ^ ou spoke yesterday about pe..|,lc borinp vou
so eas ,-," he added after a im inent's interim, and
smiling. " I sliuiild h.-i . to do so. I certaiiilx wish
to be entertaining, yet from what you sai.l I feel I,
too, ma> become wearisome as soon as you know me
better."

"Possibly," she answered with perfect catidor,
"but I hope not. It's the bane of my life to feel
as I said. I hate to (l< so. I'd far rather like
everybody, enjoy c'crything they said, hut I cannot.
I never should liave admitted wha- I did, however
Please forget it. To blurt out m> own npinion is
one of my serious failings, and loses me friends."
" It is apt to antagonize thcni, as I have found

MOOCOPY KSOIUTION TEST CHADT

(ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No 21

^ /APPLIED IIVMGE

165i East Moin Sire

440

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

myself. But you haven't answered my question.
How can I avoid boring you as so many do? "

"You can't, if you ever should" — almost defi-
antly. " No one can. It's fate, that is all."

" Or affinity ? " he interrupted.

" No, I do not believe in affinity — in no way,
shape or manner," flushing slightly. " I positively
abominate that word or its significance. No two
people ever were created for one another! If they
meet and agree or get along peaceably they are
fortunate, and it is usually due to mutual effort to
that end."

As this assertion, so near his own opinion, needed
no response, Stacy made none, but glanced at the
fire while his thoughts reverted to another one of
driftwood a few weeks previous and how he lay be-
side it in surly meditation.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Hazel queried
curiously, and watching him. " Where are you
now?"

" Do you want to know the truth? " glancing at
her again and smiling. " Well, I was back beside
that campfire on the beach four weeks ago, no, five,
and recalling how hurt I felt over your coldness."

" I'm sorry," in cooing tone, " but you can't
blame me now? And — and I've tried to make
amends, haven't I ? Please forget it 1 "

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

441

" Retrospection of any mood is a waste of time
I find," asserted Stacy. " We cannot live a day, an
hour, even one inoment over again.

" There is something else comes to me, also,"
he continued, ignoring the other matter. " Your
father's romantic notion, and how he enjoys such
outings, like an enthusiastic boy. It's wonderful
in a man of his age, and I love him for it. And
what an almost pathetic wish of his yesterday to
go there and live alone summers, just to hear the
ocean's lullaby at night, and see it close by every
morning. Do you ever feel that way ? "

" Sometimes, quite often, in fact," she returned
dreamily, now down beside the sea herself. " Only,
the ocean's voice and a lonely, wave-washed shore
sadden me inexpressibly. It moves me to tears
sometimes when I sit beside it alone. To pass one
night there without company, no, thank you ! Not
for me!

" Its mood is grand, uplifting, and dwarfs all
petty cares, however," she added with more elation,
" makes me forget myself entirely."

And just then, as if the coincidence had been
planned, the tall clock began chiming ten and Aunt
Sally entered, bearing a tray of refreshments, said
" Good evening, sir " to Stacy, placed the tray upon
a small table and left the room. After this tete-a-

ft'

^ !,:■

442

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

tetc lunch had been enjoyed by him he needs must,
as he did, persuade Hazel to favor him with her
auto-harp ; next, and as a Sunday evening finale, to
sing " There is a Beautiful Land on High " again.
And then he rose to go.

And novir came a queer little, half-coquettish in-
quiry from Hazel : " Do you think I am combative
in conversation, and disposed to argue," she asked
smilingly, " strong-minded, in fact ? "

" Oh, no, no, nothing of the sort," assuringly.
" I like an argument, not a ' mush of concession.'
Why do you ask ? "

" Because of what you said about religion, and
not to discuss it. I believe you are right in that.
I hope you do not class me as strong-minded, how-
ever."

" Why, bless your dear heart, no, certainly not,"
he reiterated boldly. " You couldn't be anything
but sweet and charming if you tried. And now
with thanks for this delightful evening, when may
I have another ? "

" Any time you want an argument upon an) sub-
ject except religion," smiling archly. " As father
says, our latchstring is always out."

More than that, and as if to send him away
happy, she followed him to the porch and stood to
comment upon the cool, crisp evening, and how sug-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

443

gestive of coming winter the dry, rustling leaves
were.

" Remember," he said as a final word, " you are
to visit me and my camp next Saturday. And why
can't we take a drive in the afternoon? You make
your official visit in the morning and we go driv-
ing in the afternoon? As I am to become a tem-
porary resident here, I'd like to explore my sur-
roundings.

" Bless her dear little heart, she can be winsome
if she tries," he assured himself, now striding away,
unconscious his feet touched the earth. " Also
saucy, aggravating, captivating, argumentative, and
piquant, all in one ! I'm a goner, though, and it's
yes or no some day."

I
: n

i !
J* I

.?»

CHAPTER XXXVI

ADET/»- ED courtship would be a mo-
notonous recital, and that of the elusive
Hazel and imperious, self-reliant Stacy
more so, for there was no opposition. Her father,
in spite of his optimistic faith in the honesty and
goodness of all humanity, was yet shrewd enough
to measure Stacy's attributes and see his many ex-
cellent qualities. He also knew that the best that
could happen to his well beloved " girlie " was to
win a life protector, and he had faith that Stacy
would prove such a one. As already disclosed, he
had said and done all he could to bring them to-
gether, and now as this result appeared probable,
he was well content.

Stacy, also, as Sam asserted at first, was
" tendin' right to the gal " on .ill probable or oppor-
tune occasions. When Weaiiesday evening came
again, it found him in her quaint old parlor enjoy-
ing the cigar she insisted that he smoke. The next
inevitable Thursday evening prayer meeting, whose
hymn-singing was under her direction, found him
444

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

445

an attendant, and he walked proudly away with her
as escort, followed by the envious glances of other
girls, and the smiles, nods and " I told you so's " of
all the old ladies.

And this very fact, that Hazel, as she did now,
accepted his proffered company home with a smil-
ing nod, assured him that she was quite willing to
have him recognized as her " beau."

" We are marked as keeping company now," he
said to her on this occasion as they walked away;
"do you care?"

" No, I am not any more ashamed of it than
you are," she returned facetiously, "and really it
is very nice of you, for it has been a lonely walk
home for me."

When Saturday came — and fortunate for both,
a warm and pleasant one — Hazel with four of her
girl friends and her father for escort, paid their
promised visit to Stacy's camp to see how fast his
work was progressing. That was of keen and
especial interest to Hazel, for all around and out
in the morass of Bear Hole Swamp, axes were ring-
ing, trees crashing as they fell, while nearer to then;,
below — in fact — came the sharp click of stone
masons' hammers and chisels squaring stones, the
creak of a derrick swinging them into place, and the
shouts of men driving oxen. The long, narrow, ten-

446

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

■Nii:?

foot-high barracks which its double row of cot beds,
enough for the hundred men, was next inspected,
also the cooking- and dining-rooms under the same
tarred-paper roof, and last of all, Stacy's office, a
six-foot-square shanty at one corner of this.

" It's quite a contract to feed so many men, and
keep them working effectively," he said to the girls
after they had romped about and exrlitmed over
everything, girl-like; "and evenings here are quite
picturesque with a dozen campfires going undor the
pine trees, and men lounging and smoking around
them. We have music, too," he added, smiling at
Hazel, " of a sort, at lease, for two or three play
banjoes, there are a couple of accordions, several
mojth organs, and one old fello' nlays the fiddle.
An incongruous medley of instru lents, yet not so
bad either,, with firelight and canopy of pines to add
romance. There are several fairly good singers
in the bunch, two darkies especially, and some
evening I'd like to bring you girls over to hear and
see the fun, or usual concert, unbeknown to them."

The afternoon drive in Sam's best, in fact, the
only modern top buggy in Oakdale, was most en-
joyable to Stacy, however, for now he had the
charming Hazel all to himself. They first drove
to the shore, reaching ;t by a mere path through the
bordering scrub oaks, then as the tide was out,

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

447

trotting upon the hard sand for a five-mile stretcli
and close to the gentle wave-wash, returning
through a long and winding, woods-uordered,
seldom-traveled road.

" It's woods, woods everywhere," Stacy re-
marked, after an hour of this, " and Oakdale is the
most hid-away village I ever found. For that rea-
son, it is charming in summer. My plans, and the
possible influx of new people, will spoil it," he con-
tinued regretfully, " spoil it for all time. Spoil
that cozy little harbor where no one goes except
your father, spoil the pretty beach where we
camped, the long sand spit in front of his fish
house, and Oakdale with its village green, its restful
quietude; its two churches and your brown school-
house will be no more. You will be sorry, won't
you, Hazel ? " he queried, thus addressing her for
the first time. " Sorry I ever came to Oakdale,
won't you ? "

" For that reason, yes, in a way," she answered
frankly, " and yet it can't be helpttl. If you hadn't
ccme to upset our sleepy town, someone else would
— in time, I presume. And ther " — after a
pause — " I don't believe I have quite appreciated
Oakdale's charm until now that you say it must be
spoiled. A case of how blessings brighten as they
take their flight. To me, always living here.

U ii.j

448

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

it has seemed lonesome and humdrum. But y
— you need not upset us unless you insist," she
added, glancing curiously al him ; " you can build
your dam ai.J power house, we shall have a pretty
lake in place of that swamp, and you can let it
go at that, can't you? "

" Of course, and would you like *o have me? "

" Perhaps, and perhaps not," she rejoined
evasively. " In fact, I've not understood just what
you really expected tn do, only wnat father said
might happen, .hops built, and more people come
here to live, and work in them."

And then to interest and enlighten his charmer,
Stacy began and built his air-castle city over again.

" It looks pretty — in the air," she responded,
smiling, after his city was thus built and trolley
cars running, " and is probably a creditable ambi-
tion on your part. But, jnd you must excuse me,
I don't believe you will live long enough to see it.
I hope "ou may, however. Your heart seems set
upon It."

" A case of aiming at a star and hitting a sheep
barn," laughed 5tacy, rather pleased at her frank-
nes.?. " But I shall hope to interest you in time,
shall krep on trying, anyhow," and then he chir-
ruped to the horse and drove on.

It was just sunset when they emerged from the

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

449

woods on a hilltop overlooking Oakdale. To the
left was the opening vista of the V-shaped valley
ending at the border-ng ocean. Jus' below was
Hazel's home, peeping out from a tliicket of yel-
low and scarlet foliage; to the right the village
group of houses, hotel and two churches arou.id an
open green, and across this vale were < nclosing hills
ablaze witli autumn color.

Somehow, too, just now as Stacy halted his horse
to survey this panorama, Hazel's half-hearted ap-
proval of iiis plan recurred to him. Life here was
peaceful to her as to the rest. They were alt, as
U.icle Asa had asserted, neither rich nor poor, hut
content, which meant more. And why spoil this
peacefrl life, why upjct this hamlet by the build-
ing of shops and inducing an alien population to
come and crowd themselves into it? He did not
need the money he might make by this innovation?
His buainess in Albion was prospering? Why not
abandon his air castle and save Oakdale for a sum-
mer home for Hazel and himself — if he won her?

" What you said or didn't say has made me
almost sorry I've planned to build a city here," h.*
said, glancing at her. "And V^e half a notion to
let it drop. Would you advise it, or rather do you
wish I would? "

" Why, that is a serious qi estion." she returned,

450

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

flushing at the consciousness of how important her
own opinions were becoming lo him. " I don't like
what they call factory towns, made up of poor mill
operatives, and if you plan to make this such a one
— well, I wi;h you wouldn't do it."

" I don't plan for that," an.xiously, " not a cotton-
mill town. Only to induce other industries, those
that employ higher-priced labor, to locate here, and
also give employment to Oakdalc people."

"But you can't pick and choose, can you? If
someone wants to build a cotton mill here, he can,
can't he ? "

"Why, yes — if we rent the power, of course.
Otherwise not."

" And can you dictate that ? "

" I shall," he returned forcibly, " unless I aban-
don the plan entirely to — to please you."

And just then he came near adding what would
have meant a proposal of marriagf

" Well, we must be going on, o. you will be late
home to supper," he continued h;irriedly, with a
toss of the reins, and " Go on," to Sam's sedate
nag.

A sudden heart-leap came to Hazel also at this
moment, for she, keen to read others' moods and
thoughts, understood his mood perfectly now, and

I f

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

45 «

saw that in the near future she m. ..t give tlie " yes "
or " no " thit was to domi ate her future lift.

But was she willing to make it "' yes " ?

And just then as they turned down ihe road to
her home, her father's almost pathetic assertion of
how lie wished to pass his remaining years re-
curred to her. .Mso her own fii j resolve to abide
by him and care for him as long as he lived. A
queer, and quite new thrill came as Stacy practically
lifted her out of the riage, and his " Good-bye,
Hazel, and thank you, too," in response to her
" Thank you for the ride," also set her hcrt
a-flutter.

A little sense of guilt followed his new wave
of feeling when she found her her had been
waiting supper for her almost an hour, and his
smiling, " Wal, I hope you've had a pleasant time
this anernoon, girlie; these days won't last Ion
only ad Jed to it. And then it occurred to her tl
she had entirely forgotten him, home, her school
and all else in her life, during the five hours she
had been driving with Stacy !

" I have enjoyed my ride very much," siie as-
sured him as they sat down to supper. " We drove
tlie whole length of Lop? Beach, up to the Barre
road, and all around Oakdale. He is a very in-

4S2

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

tcresting talker, and do you know, father, he is
almost sorry he has planned to build shops here
and, as I think, spoil Oakdale."

" But think o' the money he'll make out on't,"
rejoined her father, smiling at her naive admission,
" 'n' 'twon't spile Oakdale, either; jist give folks a
chance to make a better livin' than farmin'."

She was unusually tender to her father that
evening, .;Iso. Brought him his slippers, smoking
jacket, and even cleaned out and filled his cob pipe
for him in the sitting-room, then brought her auto-
harp and played all his favorite airs.

A few days later, in fact, the next Wednesday
evening when Stacy called, he suggested, as the
moon was now favorable, that they make a visit to
his camp.

" We can keep out of sight of the men," he as-
sured her. " They will all be gathered around the
fires, and from a vantage point I know up on one
of the hills we can look down and see or hear
what is doing." And glad so to reconnoiter this
crew of strange men, Hazel put on a wrap, took
Stacy's arm, and they followed the identical up-
ward path that had brought him to her five months
previous !

" Here," he said, soon halting under a big pine

i]l.^ii:!i

K*',.'"T-^'^.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 453

beside the path, " is where I first heard your auto-
harp the day I found you — and thought it spirit
music. I'm going to cut our initials in this tree
some day when I find time, just to commemorate
that fortunate fact," then continued as if her con-
sent were assured.

" How Hke fairyland and what a bewitchment
moonlight falling through pine trees has," he added,
as they kept on along the velvety path, " and how
pretty. A sort of weird mysticism in it, ethereal
and spectral in a way, but fascinating."

" I wouldn't care to come up here alone," re-
joined Hazel, clinging to his arm a little closer.
" I'd imagine ghosts might be lurking here in the
shadows."

" Do you believe in them ? " queried Stacy
curiously.

" Why no-o, not exactly," hesitating a little,
" and yet, believing in a future existence as I do
— well, it's not easy to separate faith in that from
ghost legends or the fact so many do believe in
them. Sensible and intelligent people, too, like our
Aunt Sally. She is positive that they are seen occa-
sionally. What is your opinion ? "

" All imagination or superstition," he rejoined
briskly, " and a relic of bygone times when people

454

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

believed in incantations, sorcery, witchcraft, and all
that sort of thing. It's what we can't see in this
world that scares us — our imagination."

But a queer medley of sound, the plink of a banjo,
the click of bones, and a scuffle of feet dancing upon
a board, that now came to them adown the somber,
moonlit, pine-filled gorge, ended this discussion, and
soon, piloted by Stacy to his vantage point above
them, Hazel saw a red-shirted negro dancing upon
a square of board in front of a fire, while another
seated on a rock picked and swept his fingers
across a banjo with all the force and abandon of his
race. A white boy was shaking a pair of castanets,
two score men squatting around were clapping
hands in time, while grouped about these in all
positions was the camp's entire crew. A shout and
hand-clapping rewarded the dancer when he
stopped, a white man took his place, and so for
a half hour this unique exhibition went on. Next,
after a brief interim of mingled voices and laughter
too distant to be heard by the listening ones, the
banjoist swept his fingers across the strings and
Hazel heard what to her was a rare treat, that old
plantation hymn, " Roll, Jordan Roll," sung as only
a negro can sing it beside a campfire at night with
fifty other voices joining in the chorus !

' 'J .;

ill

iili

"•E""^.«'i»

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

455

And how it swelled and rose and rolled up
through the canopy of pine boughs ! How its wild
and weird refrain filled tliat shadowy moonlit gorge,
echoed across from hill to hill, pulsed and throbbed
in the still night air with all the hope and cry for
help from a race of slaves that has made it famous !

After that came another of similar tenor, " Good
Lord, Remember Me," and then as if love were
the first, last, and best emotion of all, this big red-
shirted artist rendered two of Hazel's favorites
— " My Gum Tree Canoe " and " Suwanee
River."

" I've tried to feel and throw the real spirit of
those songs into thrm," she whispered to Stacy,
when a pause came, " but I can't sing them as he
does."

And then presto — and bearing both listeners
back to their first moment of meeting — up came
that sweetest of all plantation songs, " Don't You
Hear Dem Bells A-Ringing?"

And that, now sung in softly-modulated tenor
voice, almost carried the charm of Hazel's auto-
harp in its bell-like chords, and soft tinkling notes
wafted up through the pine-bough canopy and vi-
brating with all the pathos of distant bells at
eventide !

456

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

song is exquisite," added
" how I wish I could equal

"Oh, but that bell
Hazel at its conclusion ;
it!"

" Pshaw, he doesn't compare with you one mo-
ment for fine shading of tone," Stacy assured her,
as might be expected, "and remember that time,
place, and distance lend charm. I knew the sing-
ing would sound better up here, and so brought
you here. We will come again some evening and
bring your father. I'd like him to hear them."
Then as it was getting late, he lifted his companion
as if he owned her, tucked one hand around his
arm, and side by side they followed the moon-
checked, winding, velvety path down the canopied
gorge, as if it led into a new and ethereal world, as
indeed it did for them!

And it must be said, Stacy, cool atid business^
like as a rule, bad hard work not to halt right be-
neath the fragrant pines and risk all with one plea
for this matchless maid clinging to his arm !

.3»'''=»^

CHAPTER XXXVII

FOR two months now, or until the maples en-
closing Hazel's home were bare of foliage,
Stacy scarcely thought of anything except
her, or to direct his men and push the work forward
as fast as possible, as a minor issue. Curtis North,
Otero, and the outcome of Harkins's raid in those
two swindlers' latest field of operation, had also
partially faded from his memory when one evening,
returning from the home of his charmer, he found
a tetter from H .kins awaiting him at the hotel.

" I have delayed writing you until I could re-
port some definite action by our law mill," ne
wrote, " and what was likely to be done with your
friend 'Whiskers.' He, as you may not know,
brought one lawyer along with him from New
York, who, of course, has only a limited standing
in our courts. He has also engaged two of our
best ones to defend himself and Otero, and with
ample funds, as it appears, he is prepared to give
us a long legal fight and will probably do so. We
have him in jail, however, and all our prosecuting
457

458

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

attorney has been able to do so far is to keep him
from obtaining bonds and hbcrty. In this con-
nection, also, I recall your rather sarcastic criticism
of lawyers in general, and inasmuch as two of our
leading ones are now taking this d — swindler and
murderer's money in his defi ise and to defeat
justice if they can, i must admit your sneers were
justified. I have ' Bricktop ' here safe in limbo,
though at our preliminary hearing she proved a
poor witness for us, and swore both the Swedes
came to her cabin drunk, that the one who was
found dead fell from the top of a bddcr leading
up to the loft of her cabin, also that neither Curtis
North nor Otero were in it at thf time. She admits
being partially drunk when the accident happ-ned,
and swears she fell asleep after it and left the two
miners there, drunk, as she supposed. What com-
plicated our case the most is the fact that Tygson
has vanished. He came on with us to Rawhide,
promised me on his honor he would appear as wit-
ness when wanted, went up to Humpback, and two
days later bought a horse, packed up a camp out-
fit, and left for parts unknown. I have since
learned he obtained a bill of exchange for twenty-
five thousand dollars at our bank (the foxy cuss),
and sent it to a sister of his in Sweden. I imagined
North advised him to do this on the way here, with

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

459

threat of retribution if lie appeared against him
in court. I am now sorry we obtained his money
for him the way we did.

" I had some fun with my two birds on the way,
for the nearer we got to Rawhide, the more scared
they became, and just before we readied the Junc-
tion, and as a final bid for liberty. North oflercd
me an even hundred thousand to get off and leave
him on the train. He was like a wet rag going
up to Rawhide and scared silly besides. I had the
most fun when we got there, for I had wired one
of my friends to meet us with a few of the boys
and make believe they meant to lynch Korth. It
all went off per order, rope ready — two, in fact,
and a hundred men yelling ' Hang hini, string 'em
both up,' as we hustled them into a carriage, with
me flourishing a gun and threatening to shoot!

" And ' His Whiskers ' still believes my defiance
of the mob was all that saved his neck! Of the
two, Otero showed the most sand, in fact, damned
North with the choicest collection of Mexican cuss
words on top of ours, I e\er heard, for being such
a coward. I think the outcome will be that Otero
will turn State's evidence to save his own neck, and
so we may get a second-degree verdict ot; North.
I can't hope for more with such a liar as ' Brick-
top ' for sole witness for us, and probably a fat

46o

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

rake-off from North for lier if he saves his neck.
We are, as you see, up against a tough proposition,
plenty of money, two sharp lawyers meaning to get
the most of it, anil our only witness one who can
beat the devil at lyii.g. Will keep yon posted, how-
ever. With best wishes to your funny old farmer
friend, Uncle Asa, and the lady, I remain

" Yours fraternally,

" Jim."

■ '

W- ^1

■a

' ■■■< ':^

^H 't

r t i ',••

■

III:

"Well, it's just about as I expected," declared
Stacy in disgus., after perusing this lengthy mis-
sive, " and Curt.s North, one of the most dangerous
villains who ever caught the unwary, will probably
continue at that game in spite of all law ! He has
the price, two hungry attorneys like sharks after
it, and * ley won't let up as lor.g as his money la^Us !
Talk about the blind Goddess of Justice and her
pair of scales! She ought to be portrayed as
perched upon a pile of gold bags, holding one aloft,
and laughing at a cordon of lawyers grouped about
on their knees! "

When Uncle Asa read this missive, as he did next
day when he, as so often now, visited Stacy at the
camp, his comment may also well be quoted.

" Looks like the critter 'ud go scot free, 'n' back
to skinnin' farmers 'n' fools agin, don't it?" he

THE CASTLE BUILDEKS 46'

asserted after so doing, " 'n' I ain't a mite sprised.
Jist so long's a villain's got money, jist so long'll
them sharks o' lawyers keep arter it, makin' 'yiicve
defend him till it's gone. Then "- can go hang for
all they ca-e. Fact is, 'cordin' to my notion, most
o' the laws is made by lawyers on purpose so they
can jiiir '^ with 'em like stackin' cards, 'n' so git
fees. I ve bin in court jist to look on 'n' hear
them green-bag fellers wrangle 'n' sass one 'nother.
But the case is. one o' now ye see it, now ye
don't, to the sucker who's payin' the bill. All he
kin tell is that it's inter one o' tnem green-bags with
his money, 'n' 'now ye don't see if artor that!
Never the money, anyhow !

"'N' I've alius figgered the judge were sorter
half cahoots with them sharks in the game like-
wise. They war lawyi rs, o' course, to start on, 'n'
birds of a feather alius flock together.

"Curis, curis, Stacy," he added meditatively,
" how one half o' the world lives on t'other half
most o' the time. That sharper come along 'n'
skinned me, you come along 'n' fined him si.x thou-
sand to lam him a lesson, the lawyers ketched him
next, 'n' who'll ketch the lawyers nobody ^knows.
The'divil himself is the only one sharp 'nuff, I

cal'late."

Be that as it may be, however, the two (or rather

463

THK CASTLr; nUILDRRS

two ami one-half, (or that was all the New York
lawyer counted in the game) who had taken Cnrtis
North in hand — also his money — so twisted and
perverted all evidence that they came near proving
' Bricktop ' to have been a sort of innocent Red Rid-
ing Hood, who, with her equally chaste lady friend,
had been lured to Ra'vhide by the twi wedish
wolves in miner's garb and drugged to accomplish
their ruin; that Curtis North was an honorable
business nan who had sought to rescue tl m from
the hands of two drunken miners. They obtained
postponements and re-hearings on the score of new
evidence discovered, and finally introduced the
novel plea that Tygson, aided and abetted by the
other woman in the case, had lured his so-called
friend, Johnson, to ' Bricktop's ' cabin, then
drugged, robbed, and murdered him. In proof of
that, he had now left the country. Curtis North
ilso swore that Harkins had first e.xtorted "hirty
thousand dollrrs from him as hush money, which he
linnded to Tygson, then arrested him as a bluflf
game, and all that saved Harkins rom impeach-
ment and trial was '-is record for unswerving
I mesty and fcarles? discharge of his duty. The
case was kept in court for over two years by
\':irious legal subterfuges, until Harkins and the
prosecuting attorney, fearing that the arch-crimina!,

THE CASTl.K IIUII.DKKS 463

Curtis North, woul.l escape all pimisliim-nt, .Iccidcd
to promise immmiity K. Otero for turning States
cvi.lcce, which he did with all haste. As proof
conclusive of wlua a farce and travesty on justice
some criminal trials are, he swore, and it was ad-
mitted as evidence, that Curtis Nori'i had exercised
a hypnotic influence over him for ars. compelled
him to Ro to this woman's cabin apainst his will,
Had sent him out to buy more liquor and a sleep-
ing powder to put in it, an<l that, drunk himself,
he saw North deal the fatal blow to Johnson and
rob him. As corrobirative proof of this, lie also
swore to the fact that North had given him money
and sent him to Oakdale to buy Hear Hole Swamp,
as well as other malign and evil dee.ls. In rebuttal
North-s lawyers proved conclusively that Otero had
been a professional gambler and blackleg, horse and
cattle thief, and had served time for one of the
latter crira-s, and finally obtained a m mslauguter
verdict for their client with extenuating circu, •
starccs and a minimum sentence of six yoars in

prison for it.

Also as every one knew full well, they ob-
tained all the money he had brought to Rawhide

with liini !

" P.ccorva," said tlie ivrenressible McCuc to Har-
kins when the verdict was announced iukI North

ffXTVi rmi '.V .mrvms^ at..

464

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

lilt:

taken away to serve it, " thar do be only wan way
to sarve the loikes o' him an' thot tlie ould one.
Jist a few o' the b'ys thot know their business, a
rope 'n' convanient limb, 'n' thar ye be! An' thin
look at the fun we missed seein' him sthrung up,
wid dhrinks all round after thot, an' iverybody
thratin', an' maybe a foine fight fer a windup.
Now 'tis to spind two years provin' everybody is a
liar till we forgit what the mon done an' wimmin
sind riowers to him in the jail. Ochone, but the
toimes has all gone wrong, an' dom dull now, dom
dull!"

Something else, also, of pertinent interest was
learned by Stacy soon after this on one of his occa-
sional visits to Barre and from Davis, cliairman of
that city's Improvement Committee.

" Your gay and festive friend, J. Smith Alton,
left town between two days last week. Brother
Whipple," he said to him smilingly. " Also left
quite a few mourning for their bills as well. He
was defeated for councilman by a landslide at our
October election, notified if he didn't resign from
my committee, charges of betraying a trust and
bribery would be preferred against him, and he de-
cided the best way was to vamoose, and did so. He
took good care to borrow all he possibly could be-
fore departing, and those victims are all who regret

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

465

his departure. I have heard he was seen in New
York recently with a very handsome black-eyed
lady."

" Miss Carmen, I presume," smiled Stacy, well
pleased, " and probably hunting for her friend
Otero and the mate to a diamond bracelet she was
expecting for assistance in doing me. She won't
get it, however, for this Otero has troubles of his
own just now," and then after showing Davis the
letter from Harkins, Stacy told him the whole story
from his meeting Uncle Asa to the final scene in
New York.

" What an all-around, double-distilled, dyed-in-
the-wool fool a man is to get bedeviled by a woman
like this Carmen," he declared, after the long story
was ended. " A spider spinning a web for unsus-
pecting flies is an honest fellow in comparison, for
such as she weaves one over the most invincible and
compelling of all human impulses, that once aroused
leave the victim no chance whatever except to be
robbed, gladly. Even thankful to be so duped,
fleeced, and finally dishonored as this fellow, Alton,
has been. The one factor and feature of this mat-
ter most exasperating to me, or rather one that
wakens my contempt for man's frailty most, is the
fact that otherwise level-headed and sensible busi-
ness men can, and are continually being duped and

I'f-,

1,1 :

< -if

466

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

preyed upon by Carmens of every age, shape, color,
or previous condition of depravity.

" I do not wonder cynics sneer and savants jeer!
Puck ought to have said, ' What fools these men
can be ! ' "

CHAPTER XXXVIII

FOR almost two months now, or since that
evening of mutual confession, and oblitera-
tion of Stacy's sulks, he had not only been
paying most assiduous court to Hazel, but dwelling
in the seventh heaven of illusions. Each Sunday
found him at church, garbed spick and span as the
best Albion tailor could make him, and rain or shine
he was sure to be beside her cheerful fire those
evenings as well. When Thursday evening arrived,
he was on hand to escort her home from that in-
evitable prayer meeting, and to tuck her hand
around his arm in the manner of proprietorship,
then walk away as if he owned her! Mo. than
that, and in spite of her warning that boredom
might follow too intimate associ;i 'on, he dared that
by presenting himself at the throne of her grace
on other evenings as well. They went driving each
Saturday afternoon, weather permitting, and a box
of choice flowers and a five-pound one of candy
came up from Albion alternately on those days un-
til, as might be expected, all Oakdale felt positive
467

I* ill

468

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

■»i (

His

that they were engaged lovers, and spoke accord-
ingly.

And yet, after those weeks, delightful to both,
they were not, neither had the word, love, been
'even hinted at, except by insinuation from Stacy.
They talked much, however, discussing all proper
subjects in fearless manner, occasionally disagree-
ing, for Hazel had a mind of her own and was not
afraid to express it ; and Stacy, while not dogmatic,
was equally fearless of opinion. More than that,
he was keen enough to realize that Hazel enjoyed
a contest of argument, with due deference to her
conviction, of course, and that concession, or a
" yes, yes " to all her opinions, would inevitably
mean her feeling bored, and the end of her interest
in him. He even — so anxious was he to entertain
and interest her — sent for the complete works of
her favorite author, Emerson, and between times
or calls read assiduously. And they, as they could
not fail to do, soon opened his eyes to a new horizon
and a broader, nobler and more spiritual meaning to
life and its moods and impulses.

For occult reasons, also, he made no mention of
this study — and it is a study to all who read Emer-
son understandingly — until he had grasped what
may be called the outlines of this philosopher's mind
— his analysis of the why and wherefore of hu-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

469

man emotions and actions, their origin, outcome,
and final purpose in life. Then Stacy, thus armed
and equipped and anticipating a delightful exchange
with Hazel, broached the subject of Emerson.

" I've gone to the fountain source of your
many pertinent epigrams and profound truths,
Hazel," he said to her that evening, once more
beside her cheerful fire, " and I've had a treat ; also a
struggle, for Emerson is a deeper thinker than I
am accustomed to, and not easily understood."

" I'm glad," she rejoined, her eyes a-twinkle and
smiling, '" for now you can understand why I once
admitted I was so easily bored by commonplace
conversr.tion — personal history, gossip, and all that
sort ct thing that so many indulge in. Which of
his books have you been reading? "

" Oh, his Essays, of course ; they came first, and
do you know I read them, then his miscellaneous
writings, next his poems, and returning to his Es-
says, found I had not even grasped a tithe of their
deep meaning. I've read the one I like best, ' Com-
pensation,' over four times; 'Self-Reliance,'
' Friendship,' ' Love,' and ' Spiritual Laws ' fvice
each, and find I've not as yet more than skimmed
them. He is a wonderful thinker, and in writing
condenses more into fewer words than anyone else I
ever read. To follow him understandingly, requires

470

THE CASTLE F 'TLDERS

the closest application. He is a mine of analytical
wisdom. But ' Compensation ' is the gem of all hi.s
writings, and as a guide to how to live and enjoy
v.'hat is best in life it is worth more than all the ser-
mons I c -er heard. I've had a treat, thanks to
you."

" ' Compensation ' is a classic," she rejoined, her
eyes brimming with mischief. " But what induced
you to delve into him? You whose leading ambi-
tion was to build a big dam and transform sleepy
old Oakdale into a city of spindles and mill opera-
tives and make a lot of money! I am astonished!
Why is this thus?"

"Well, you are the first reason," he returned
boldly. " You have been quoting him to confound
me, anu did so most adroitly; routed me horse, foot,
and dragoons, so to speak, so that I've been com-
pelled to read Emerson in self-defense. Beyond
that, and accepting one of your assertions literally,
I've had cold chills lest I bored you."

Then the elusive Hazel laughed right merrily.

" Stealing my thunder, eh?" she ejaculated, sub-
siding. " Robbing me of my trite axioms, thou
brave knight? I am surprised! And so you have
mastered Emerson to confound me in turn," she
continued piquantly and resolving to catecliise her
admirer. " If this be so, the class of one in ' Com-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

471

pensation ' will now take his place and recite.
What is it the big trees seem to say to mere man
coming out of the heated caucus ? "

" ' Why so hot, my Httlc sir? ' " answ. ed Stacy
smiling. " and that the affairs of men are but trifles
in comparison with time and the growth of a vast
forest. A petty diversion soon forgotten."

" And have you learned the real inner reason why
it is best to pay scot and lot as you go along? " she
continued, watching him. " Why the borrower
runs into his own debt ? "

" To pay all debts promptly means to escape all
sense of obligation at once. To be able to look the
'ifhole world in the face undaunted and say, ' Go,
chase thyself,' if need be," laughed Stacy.

" And can you do a wrong without suffering a
wrong?" persisted Hazel. "Can you strike a
we.iker one without the blow becoming a boomerang
returning to smite you? "

" No, never; nor dig a pit for thy fellow man, thy
brother, without falling into it thyself with a dull
thud, as Curtis North did," rejoined Stacy compla-
cently. " The blow he aimed at your father, his
robbery, returned to smite him tenfold. A
boomerang of mighty force that divested him of
fortune, swept him across a continent, and landed
him behind prison bars."

^rii.

472 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" I see you have garnered and applied a few
Emersonian truths," smiled Hazel admiringly;
" not enough to deserve the laurel wreath, however.
Can you as yet truthfully say that you distrust and
fear all flattery ? That praise is dangerous and dis-
torts your own perspective of yourself almost in-
evitably ? "

" I can't quite say that," admitted Stacy frankly.
" I like to be well thought of — by you especially.
Like to have those I care for like me, and show
it in some manner. Not by word, however, by
deed, rather, which is, after all, flattery of the most
occult sort. In short, I am like most of humanity,
one who prefers being appreciated, not misunder-
stood. For instance, it is a satisfaction to me to
feel your father believes in both my honesty and
honor. Also that I have some common sense. Is
that dangerous flattery, oh, sweet and fair teacher? "
" Both adjectives are flattery to me," she asserted
instantly, yet smiling. " I must allow I lile them,
as you admit what you like. But that does not dis-
prove Emerson's contention that all flattery is
dangerous. I still insist and believe that it is."

" In a way, yes, for we are never sure there isn't
a sinister intent back of it. Some axe to grind.
Won't you allow it from those you trust thor-

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

473

oughly? Those you liave proved that you can
trust?"

" By deed and implication, yes, by word — well,
I must say that I rebel at all words of praise ex-
cept from one person, my father. Praise from him
is very sweet, because I know it comes from his
love, which is absolutely and entiiely unselfish. I
feel I am a part of him in soul-life, anyway, as I
must be."

For one long moment Stacy's eyes rested upon
the sweet, piquant face of Hazel with deep, tender
admiration. He saw her now as never before, and
that beyond or within a face and form so charming
that all men must admire and want to praise, lay
a soul, dauntless, clear-eyed, sincere, pure and
truthful. He realized that she saw him as he was,
with all his faults and foibles. Also recognized his
honesty of purpose and sense of honor. In a way,
as well, he saw, or was conscious that his own soul
stood bared to her. That she had analyzed him by
word and deed; that she, a metaphysical student,
almost, in spite of her tender years, could read
and measure his mind and moods as easily as her
great mentor, Emerson, could those of all hu-
manity. Beyond this, also, and more satisfying,
came the instantaneous consciousness that her ac-

4<l

474

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

1; t-

ceptancc of his company so often and in the face
of all Oakdalc meant that sho was willing to do so.
Meant that she cared not one whit what they said
or thought about it. That she, high-spirited and
proud beyond their possible conception, was yet
willing to walk beside him in full view, willing to
be seen, known and discussed as his almost daily
companion and mate, as she had been now for
months. And realizing all this as never before,
almost was he now compelled to ask for final ac-
ceptance and her promise to share his life for weal
or woe, for joy or sorrow.

"I often think," she then said, divining his
thoughts, perhaps, and flushing at his ardent gaze,
" how much I need my father's abiding love and
faith, and how impossible for me to be happy with-
out it. We have grown together, he and I, in soul-
life and appreciation of Nature. He has read all
my best books, too, just to keep pace with me in
thought or study, I fancy. Sometimes we discuss
them as you and I have Emerson, though seldom ;
but better than that, and like a tonic to me, is his
old-fashioned, homely way of hitting the nail on
its head ; of uttering the truth and facts of the case
in few words and to the point. He never bores me,
seems to know just how I feel and think about all
matters, and beyond that I am compelled to feel that

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 475

his sole ambition in life is my own happiness. Of
course, the inevitable comwnsttion comes in my
feeling the same way towards him."

" ' Two hermit souls,' " quoted Stacy again, and
not at all jealous of it. "You certainly have
' blazed your path where never highway ran ' for
I never saw or knew of a father and daughter so
devoted, so independent of the whole world, and
so little in need of anything it can give. But — "

" No, don't say it," she interrupted hastily, read-
ing his thought, " for I know it all the time. How
can I help it when I look at his wrinkh'l face?
But that is of to-morrow, and to live one day at
a time is our motto." Then, as if there could be
but one outcome of this line of thought from Stacy,
a proposal, which must be forestalled, she arose
speedily and went to her piano.

" I have a new song," she asserted, now hunt-
ing for it, " and I'm going to inflict it upon you,
willy-nilly. We have discussed metaphysics long
enough."

Then Stacy, quite at home here now, added two
sticks of white birch wood to the fire, Ut a cigar
with a shred of bark, crossed his legs and lay back
in his armchair, content to enjoy what the gods
had so far vouchsafed him, and quite sure the time
would come when this rare and keen-witted maid

476

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

fif:

I i. '.K

J ■ '

04 i

must turn to him for love and protection. And
just now, also, while he blew smoke rings lazily and
watched her, the growth of this now well-estab-
lished bond passed in retrospection. He saw her
once more, as at first, under the big pine, and leaping
to her feet in sudden alarm at his appearance.
Next, the first meal she had served him so graciously
and with such tactful converse, her cool indifference
in the strawberry field, how he had had to beg for an
invitation to call, her continual distrust of him, and
almost chilling neglect upon their first visit to the
shore; and worse than that, her frosty demeanor
all througli the camping-out episode, with only one
utterance from her he cared to now recall. His
fit of sulks came next, and how for three long weeks
of evenings, he, though hungering for a sight of
her sweet face, held himself aloof in sullen anger.

And then the chance meeting on the highway,
and how close he came to letting his pride continue
its rule and perhaps part them forever, and how,
step by step after that, they had drawn nearer to
one another along the highway of life, until now,
— oh, blessed consciousness — she was willing to
walk beside him at all times and before the whole
world !

But would she be willing so to continue all her
life? To give herself to him, to have and to hold.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

477

to love and care for, all that Ion;' or slioit journey?
He understood her better now. How self-reliant
she was, how little of the personal, selfish side of
human nature there was in her make-up, and how
much of the spiritual, the noble, the altruistic at-
tribute she had. She was like that rare flower,
the edelweiss, growinjj .along the borders of per-
petual snow, and as sweet and pure. She might
accept the sunshine of love and protection, perhaps,
but did not need it, for as she had just assured hiin,
and truthfully, too, as he believed, she was con-
tent to devote herself to her one best companion
— her father. Stacy did not mean that she should,
however, just now. He meant to beg for admit-
tance into her empyrean realm, her kingdom along
the snow line, and to that end and purpose, and for
that consummation, all other plans of his must and
should consiiire. Then, too, as nn added incentive,
came her father's apparent wish for tiiat result, and
his almost pathetic self-cfTacement in a hermit life
down beside the lonely shore.

And how could it all be brought about? How
sever these two life-companions, so satisfied with
one another? Would love and wifehood be suf-
ficient for the azure-souled Hazel? Sufficient to
satisfy and replace a kinship that had been hers
since childhood? It seemed almost too much to

478

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

expect! In fact, that consciousness, that realiza-
tion of how bound together these two were, had
kept Stacy silent so long. Silent at least to the ex-
tent of proposing what must mean a separation.

And now, with the evening and fire both waning,
and Hazel, beautiful as a painter's classic dream,
sounding the chords of an old-time love song
but a few feet away, Stacy was as far from it as he
had been for months.

He was in nowise afraid of her, or to put the
question and win or lose all. Only — and now her
own assertions of the dread of commonplaceness
recurred to him — was he capable of assuming so
great a charge, so delicate a task as being soul-
mate for such as she ? They were both happy now,
or content in a way. He with his air castle and
ambition, she with her school for diversion, and
home life and father for consolation. How would
it be if he thrust himself into this? If they mar-
ried and he transplanted her to Albion and social
life there, as perforce he must, would that work
out to her satisfaction and content? Could or
would all he might do for her satisfy and make
amends for tlie soul-stafif she had leaned upon so
long — her father?

" It is getting late and I must be going. Hazel,"
he said in his usual tone now, rising after his long

wmm

t • 4

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 479

meditation, and she. as was usual now, helped him
on with his coat and ont " .' tl.: door for him to de-
part.

" I've had a more t ;■■, onlin.-^.rii ' enjoyable even-
ing. Hazel," he said, -..1111 i.-i-^'al tenderness this
time, and pausing in the open door. " All evenings
are charming with you, as you must know, this more
than most, for I've obtained a glimpse into your
inner soul-li fe. I — I wish you needed me as much
as I do you."

Then, as if this was meant to set her think-
ing, he added a hasty " good night," and strode

away.

And then Hazel, quite conscious of what was in
his heart, also with a sweet pain in her own, sat
down beside the dying fire and stared into the
faintly glowing embers. And how empty the room
seemed just now, and how like " never — forever
_ forever — never " sounded the tall clock's tick,
mingling with the low murmur of the near-by brook
outside, and the rustle of dead leaves in the night

wind !

" I am doing wrong, very wrong," she said
to herself ne.xt, leaning her face in one hand with
elbow on chair arm, after five minutes of this soul
communion. " He is getting more and more in love,
and I am letting him. He came near proposing

48o THE CASTLE BUILDERS

to-night! It must not be! It must not be, with
poor old poppy planning to live alone by the seal
No, no, it must not be ! I cannot leave father as he
will insist! I cannot!"

And then so sharp a heart pang came in answer
she had to bite her lips.

For a very long half-hour more, she still sat there
in silent communion with herself, her life — past,
present, and probable future. She was barely con-
scious of the clock's solemn tick, imagined she
heard the low wave-wash on the lonely shore, and
saw the white and brown rows of serrated stones
on the hillside above the village. Life had come
to a parting of the ways for her : one pointing to
love and duty to her father, the other into an un-
known realm with an almost soul-stranger.

" No, no, no, I cannot," she said at last, rising
to extinguish the light and retire, " and I shall not
leave father ! "

T?^

EW'Tiir'TTiniMi "iii'T

CHAPTER XXXIX

THERE are some days in good old New
England that seem like a benediction,
and such a one now ushered in Thanksgiv-
ing to Oakdale. The distant sea undulating beneath
a red sun was without a ripple, the sky a dome of
ambient haze, the air soft and balmy, the hillsides
still glowing with faint shades of scarlet here and
there amid the brown, and the vista of valley
opening to the sea, still green. The church bells,
as always here on that day, called the faithful once
more, and Hazel with them, to sing again a song of
joy and thankfi ' ^ ■• while over at the camp,
Stacy's men wer. /ing what to them was a

glorious and satisfymg day of rest and sports, with
a dinner of roast turkeys, geese, and ducks as extra
treat provided by him. He also, quite content with
himself and all else, the progress of his work, and
his wooing of Hazel, more especially, walked home
with her from church as usual, then partook of a
most excellent dinner provided by Aunt Sally and
served by Hazel, also seasoned by the flavor of
Uncle Asa's wit and humor. Stories were told by
481

m^iMS.v1}93VXMWSJISib^yS/.

!trj

l-l

482

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

both himself and that genial optimist, inchidins
what he never tired of (or any of the party either),
his experience in the sleeping car with snakes as a
side feature, and how scared the porter was! And
after that, when the sun was well down, Stacy
made a suggestion to Hazel.

" Let's walk up to the camp, '.:ttle girl" (for so
he occasionally addressed her now) "and see how
my men are getting on and what they are doing."
And she, half-conscious that this meant something
more, took a light wrap, put on her red mobcap,
and away they went up the hill and along the
velvety path through the pines to the camp. They
did not go close to it, either, just climbed a brown
bush-covered hillock, to reconnoiter it from am-
bush, see the men — most of them in lazy abandon,
and grouped around four who were pitching quoits,
and then returned along the same path to the big
pine where Stacy had first seen Hazel and the top
of her home roof.

" Let us sit here a few moments," he said, " and
watch the sunset. I feel like it, too," he added,
naif sadly, now spreading his top coat he had car-
, ried on his arm for her to sit upon, " feel the sun-
set mood, as I always do at the end of a Thanks-
giving day."

" But why?" she queried, first glancing at him.

. .* V W .1.-.,,,.. ■.! II . *^— ™^i^P

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

483

now seated beside her, then away to where his eyes
were upon the red ball of fire close to the distant
hilltop. " Hasn't the day been a pleasant one? "

" As much so as kind friends could make it," he
returned briskly ; " delightful, in fact, for I've had
you for company. Only it is as always to me now,
a day of bygones. Of memories of boyhood and
my own home and Thanksgivings there. And the
minor chord is the stern fact that all who made
those days red-letter ones, are only memories now.
Pictures on the walls of my room. Scenes upon
the tablets of memory. It's the common fate of us
all, and best kept out of mind. Pardon my mention

of it.

" Do you know. Hazel," he continued hurriedly,
as if wishing to force this retrospective chord out
of her mind, " the only consolation a sunset has is
the expectation that the sun will rise again. Again,
I think, and do not wonder at it, how many mil-
lions were sun-worshippers once. I am myself, in
a way, for it is the actual or only visiljle origin of
all life on this planet. We believe in God or the
Father of us all, and rightly, but the san is the
tangible means, after ?,'.l."

" Yes, of bodily life, animal or vegetable," she
rejoined earnestly, "but net of soul life — moods,
emotions, feelings, ambitions — they must come

484

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

■hr

from some other source, I am sure. Aren't you? "

" Oh, not so sure as I wish I were," he returned,
shaking his head, " for therein lies all faith in or
hope of a future life, and while I hope for it, like
all humanity, I wish I were more sure of it, how-
ever. Don't you ? "

" To be candid, yes ; only I have an implicit faith,
and would hate to have it shaken by contrary proof.
That must always be a matter of faith. It's our
soul's only bulwark.

" I always lose a little faith when the end of
autumn, with its death of plant-life comes," she
added, sighing. " That forces the conviction of
how short our lives are, and how soon I shall come
to what you have to-day — the living over of by-
gones and pictures on the walls. I've only father,
anyway."

And just then, Stacy, catching the minor chord
of her mood and its kinship with his own, turned
and scanned her face in profile. He noted the sad
little droop to her lips, and how like Evangeline's
face in expression her own was, and his heart gave
a leap. If ever she was or would be in occult
sympathy with him, it was now!

" Hazel," he said, suddenly reaching and clasping
one of her hards, "life is short, hope is elusive; I

fj<^(\ .-M

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

48s

want you to inspire mine now and for all time!
Oh, I want you for my very own ! "

One instant's flash of her eyes meeting his came;
a look that bared her very soul in the sunset glow ;
the next she drew ner hand from his and both went
to her face.

"Oh, no, no" — chokingly and quivering — "it
must not be I I cannot leave father ! "

" But you can promise — sometime," pleaded
Stacy desperately. " I want you so much I will
wait a lifetime! My God, I can't give you up! "

For one long moment she sat, still trembling, then
turned her eyes to him, a vision of heaven.

" I cannot say no — always," she whispered
brokenly, " but you must wait — you know —
why."

And then, despite her brief struggle, he gathered
her to his heart and their lips met.

Oh, wondrous illusion! Oh, blessed moment!
Oh, divine thrill! Oh, sublime union of soul and
impulse to which all else subserves and joins heaven
and earth, soul and body, life and death, time and
eternity, as naught else can or should ! It comes
but once with perfect power through all life's span,
a soul-absorbing, death-defying, God-uniting in-
stant of supreme ecstasy!

If •

Iff

I,)

486 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And so it came to these two, created to mate,
perhaps, upon some other shore of time, some other
realm where the Supreme Architect of the Universe
said, " Go forth, you two; become as one, and create
My world anew ! "

It was hours later — how passed needs no de-
scription—when Hazel found her father asleep in
his armchair beside the dying embers of the sitting-
room fire.

" Why, girlie," he exclaimed, wakened now by a
little arm enclosing his neck and a tear-moist face
pressed to his, " wliat's liappencd to ye? "

"What I meant never should," she whispered,
creeping into his lap and kissing him. " And I —
I feel mean and happy both! But he is wiUing to
wait and "— showering kisses upon his face — " I
couldn't say ' no,' father."

"Wal, God bless ye, girlie, both on ye," now
understanding her naive confession as only he could
and clasping her close.

For a long five minutes he held her thus, she who
was more than life to him, then he spoke again.

" I knowed 'twould come, 'n' it's best so," he
said softly. " 'n' now I shall feel ye're to be keered
fer alius ez a woman needs. O' course we got to
part, I know that, too," he added a moment later.
" 'n' that's best so, likewise. Ye must be his'n, then

;.-,j>" t ^_.,

wfi^aF^i

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

487

— everyways — not mine no more. But we'll liev
qi'ite a spell together yet, girlie," more cheerfully,
■' lots o' weeks 'n' months, mcbbe, 'n' we're gt)in'
to make the most on 'em, too ! We be ! Now go
to bed 'n' dream o' settin' in a mcdder 'n' hearin'
the birds singin' all arourd, ez ye ought to ! "

Then he arose, lifting her to his heart, kissed her,
plumped her on her feet, and then with a whis-
pered " Good night. Poppy dear," she left him.

" It's best so, best so," he said to himself after
listening to the last pat of her feet on the stairs,
then pushing the smouldering embers together.
" But it's goin' to be a cuttin' o' my heart out, jist
the same."

^^w???^^^^^^?

"i'\ ■■'■

Hi^lPi

CHAPTER XL

1(1

%'■■

WHILE this Thanksgiving Day became a
red-letter one in Stacy's life-calendar,
and the beginning of the most alluring
and poetically beautiful illusion that comes to man,
Oakdale continued on the even tenor of its way
without a ripple. The only disturbing factor to
them was the progress of this new enterprise he
was engaged upon, and its final result upon the
town. This i .'rally elicited various opinions; a
few contending that it would prove an injury by
bringing in an alien population of foreign habits,
custotns, and religion, and eventually destroy their
peaceful life and serenity, while others, and the
majority, felt confident that it would result in last-
ing benefit. In the meaniime, Stacy, oblivious to
all public opinion and enwrapped in the building of
a new air castle with Hazel as its queen and mis-
tress, was, '<s Uncle Asa would put it, " sawin' wood
all the time."

He built an addition to his rude dining-room for
his men to occupy during the coming cold weather,
a portable sawmill was added to his outfit, and as
488

i'*m

'.. t tr^'j

..jwv;

jfe

THK CASTLE BUILDERS

489

soon as tlie swamp froze sufficiently, and snow came,
he bepan hauling out all available and valuable tim-
ber. More life and more visitors came to the town,
Bascom's store was the scene of greater activity
and divided honors with Sam's hotel as evening
loafing place for the Old Guard and general news
agency for Oakdale. A few more traveling men,
scenting business from afar, and in advance of it,
as always, made that town an objective point, heard
what was in prospect, and spread the tidings broad-
cast. In fact, and as invariably happens, these
emissaries of trade and progress, first to locate a
good hotel or customer, were also first to inform
the outer world that Oakdale had woke up from its
lethargy, that an e.iterprising firm was erecting a
big dam to supply it with power, that new indus-
tries were soon to locate there, factories to be built
and new dwellings, a harbor was to be created,
ara rollcy line to connect it with Barre soon
to be established. Thus were made known all the
details of Stacy's original air castle, soon to eventu-
ate and become facts.

Hazel's future also became assured in the minds
of all, for a diamond solitaire flashing from her left
hand the next Sunday after Thanksgiving told her
love story and its outcome as naught else could.
Congratulations and cordial good wishes came to

i -*1J _.-_«..

490 TUB CASTLE UUILUERS

her in al.uiKlance, for she was well beloved by all,
and the chorus of " I told you so's," and " I knew
it would happen," sprea.l apace. She and Stacy,
now known to l« engaged, became the cynosure of
all eves each Sunday, and also, the target of a few
mildly envious glances from young and lonely maids

as well.

But the one whose life was to be most upset,
whose future was to become barren, cheerless, un-
loved, lonely and desolate, yet who would never
complain or hint it ever, was Uncle Asa himself!
" I want ye to gin up the school now, girlie," he
said to her the next day after Hazel had made her
half-pathetic confession, " 'n' for two reasons.
Fust, he is perty high strung 'n' won't jist rehsh
havin' the gal he's cal'latin' to marry walkin" three
miles a dav to am a matter o' forty dollars a month,
'n' I don't want it cither. Then ag'in, ye must be-
gin thinkin" how he's goin" to think 'n' feel on all
that consarns ye both from now on. In a way, yew
two hev become ez one, which is nat'ral, 'n' ye must
figger that way in all ye feel 'n' do. Thar's also
'nother reason with me. He'll want ye to set the
day 'long next May or June; it's the marryin' time,
'n' it's jist ez well ye do. I shall hate to lose ye,
nobody knows how much, nor never will, but thar
ain't nothin' gained by markin' time too long; jist

*fc t • ^

•5^5?

It.JlW.;.."

_t . y

*jyyii/^

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

491

long 'nufF to git a good ready, then go ahead in
the march o' Hfe 'n' pursuit o' happiness. Kow
this bein' the case, ez 'twill he, all I kin hev o' you
is 'iKJUt six months more, 'n' not many evcnin's o'
Miem cither. Hut wliat time tliar is, 1 want, every
wakin' minute on't, 'n' when ye go, I'm goin' to jist
grin 'n' bear it, thinkin' it's ftr the best, 'n' ycw're
happy."

Of cour.se Hazel assured him that she had no
intention of deserting liini in si.K months or six
years even! That while she h,id .said "yes" to
Stacy's proposal, it was with a " sometime " and
" long-way-off " proviso, and then only in hir own
good time, will, and plca;ure.

" I have said I never intci' I'd to leave von.
father, and T meant it," she assured him in conclu-
sion, " and you know why I fee! so. I presiimi' I
can be happy with Stacy, but you arc si ill fust in my
feelings, and he can wait. It won't hurl him, either,
and it's better he should do so, and learn all my
faults 'ipf .re we take the fatal step; also give me
time ic aarn his, for I am not sure he is quite
perfect yet. You once said one person needed
to winter and summer another to know him. N'ow
I am going to heed your advice and winter and sum
mer Stacy may be two or three times before I give
myself to him for good."

17^

492 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

" That's good sense, girlie," her father responded,
smiHng at her benignly and in wise manner, " but
■twon't work out the way ye figger. Ye may thmk
ye see faults in him now; they won't seem so arter
a month or two o' courtin', cause that's a part o'
Natur' 'n' the laws o' love. If he's fit to be yewrs
'n' yew his, ye'll both feel more sure on't day by
day, and petty fast, too, or ye'd better not hitch up
at all. I cal'late, too, ye'd do the same if ye wa'n t
fitted fer one 'nother. It's a kind o' head-'n'-heart
crazy spell, this fallin' in love is, 'n' ez fer seem'
faults while it lasts, ye won't and can't. Ye've got
to jist shut your eyes, go it blind, 'n' say, ' Hope to
God it'll pan out all right.' It may, 'n it may not,
that's the luck o' life, but yew can't, 'n' no gal ever
did see any serious faults in a man arter she'd said
' yes ' to him. I think yew two'U pan out all right
•n' be happy. If I hadn't. I'd never took ye both
down to the shore that fust day 'n' gin ye the chance
o' meetin' ez I did. The fact is, I got a line on
him the day I took him fishin' fust, I've kep' watch
o' him since, clusser'n you hev, knowin' what was
brewin', 'n' now, not bein' in love with him myself.
I kin see him better'n yew kin."

What her father wished and believed was law
with Hazel, and while conscious that this new and

r^TBEl^

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

493

sweet illusion would, or might blind her to Stacy's
faults, she was sure that her father saw him as he
was and trusted him accordingly. Beyond that
or beneath it, lay the stronger tie of filial affection
that made her feel this new bond to be secondary,
and her father first in any and all matters pertaining
to his happiness. When Stacy came, as he now did
almost every evening, she would permit only a
seldom all-by-themselves one for him, but her father
must share it in his easy chair by the fire ; and while,
like all lovers, they now and then secured a brief
privacy, it was short and, of course — sweet. In
fact, as may be inferred from Hazel's make-up and
mental scope, the soft nothings and co2y<orner
caressings of average lovers were not for her. In
this connection she now recalled an observation her
father had once made years before to a nephew
about to be married.

" Go a leetle slow, my boy, a leetle slow in this
ere love business," he had said to him then, " 'n'
don't be wantin' to kiss her all the time, fust go off.
Jist rec'lect ye've got a good many years on't ahead,
'n' ye kin kiss her when ye want to, 'n' when ye
don't want to ! "

With Hazel, and in line with her valuation of
herself and her readiness for becoming bored, she

494 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

did not intend to permit any " not wanted" kisses
from Stacy, or allow the Ogre of Satiety to enter
their garden.

I„ deference to her father's wishes, she gave up
her school at close of the fall term soon after
Thanksgiving, and now with a few more late Indian
Summer days fortunately vouchsafed them, she and
her father began to make the most of them. Of
course there were trips to the shore where she, wel
wrapped, kept him company, and to watch him pull
his lobster pots was one pleasure. They dug clams,
cooked cozy little dinners of sea food and ate them
there as they had done countless times since her
childhood, and on the same oft-used table, or if too
cold in the ancient fish house. They took long
strolls on the beach, hand in hand, watching the sea
gulls, the incoming waves, and finding queer bits of
wreckage and the floatsam and jetsam of the sea
cast up by them. They gathered quantities of
shells, curiously worn and polished stones, and
sailors' money purses, like two children, and leaving
them in the fish house for a future use they both
understood intuitively but never mentioned; and
one dav, when a half-gale forbade any pulhng of
pots, they devoted the most of their time to picking
up driftwood and keeping a fire going within a
wind-sheltered nook amid the sand dunes. To this

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

495

nook, also, Uncle Asa brought his few cooking
utensils and boards from the table, and after making
ready to cook a dinner, left Hazel here to watch the
fire while he secured a mess of clams near the bor-
ders of the upshooting rush of monster billows. In
this " wind-loved coign," as Hazel named it, he, a
little later, steamed his catch of clams, broiled a
couple of lobsters taken from his car inside of the
sandspit, made a pot of coffee, and here, thus pro-
tected and kept warm, not ten rods from the white-
crested breakers booming and crashing on the shore,
they ate what was their last dinner beside the oce:. ..
A few days later, and so cold that her father would
not bring Hazel, he came down, took up his pots
and bait net, drew his lobster car ashore and took
out the few left in it, also stored and packed all his
belongings in or near the fish house. Then, and
so like a lover was he towards his well-beloved
girlie, he gathered driftwood, built a fire within the
wind-protected nook and cooked and ate his dinner
here — all alone.

" I s'pose I've got to git used to it," he now said
to himself, reflectively, and freshening the fire after
the meal while he smoked, " but it's goin' to come
hard, mighty hard ! Curis, curis. how our feelin's
is all thar is to livin' an' doin' all the time, 'n' all
fer somebody else? Fust, it was her mother, then

»(l

496 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

Hazel, 'n' now — wal, now God only knows how
I'm goin' to git along 'n' stand it, 'n' He won't tell!
Nothin' ahead fer me but a six-foot hole, 'n' soon,
too, mebbe the sooner the better! Wal, it's aU fer
the best 'n' her, all fer the best, but it's hard! "

Then this true philosopher who had always lived
for others, tried to see the silver lining and hear
larks in the sky, and was now ready to face an un-
loved old age and grim death, believing that all was
for the best, added more fuel to the fire, filled and
lit his pipe anew, and sat and watched the flames a
'.tie longer in solitude. Later, he took a long look
ground this dear, loved spot, the miles of lonely
shore, the sand dunes rising back of it, the clump of
almost leafless scrub oaks where his table stood, the
blackened fireplace stones and fish house, and said,
" Good-bye, old spot, till spring comes," then rowed
up the winding creek, feeling that he had bade adieu
to the only friend of his few remaining years.

Winter and snow came next to Oakdale, and a
shut-in life for Uncle Asa, with chores and wood-
chopping his only diversion, except the always too-
short evenings while Hazel played or sang, or else
used all her arts to draw him into conversation with
Stacy and herself. He made occasional journeys
to the dam site, however, to visit with Stacy, watch
its growing progress in spite of snow and winter

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

497

cold, hear the ring of axes far away in the swamp
and the crash of falling trees again, or the newer
chirr and whirr of the movable sawmill, now reduc-
ing logs to boards and beams for the power house.
And here, one day, he asked his first favor from
Stacy.

" I'm goin' to build me a shack down by the shore
in the spring," he said to him then, " jist a two-
room one in the pocket whar we pitched our tents
last fall. Not much o' one, either, only big enough
fer me to live in in summer, some day. I'd like a
fireplace in it, too — a fire's a heap o' company
evenin's — 'n' jist a bit o' piazza in front. Ef
you'll kinder plan it 'bout right, git out the stuff
this winter, 'n' haul that 'n' stone enough to the
shore, I'll pay the bill, 'n' do the rest myself when
spring comes."

" I will," returned Stacy briskly, " and at no cost
to you. Only I want to put up a larger one than
you say — three rooms in it — so we can all go there
sometimes and have a lot of comfort, as I know we

And so, knowing Uncle Asa's plans and intentions
as he now did — in fact, they had already been dis-
cussed by Hazel and himself — Stacy set about
this labor of love. He detailed a competent man to
draw plans and specifications, the frame and boards

498

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

'■ [ ■!

were soon sawed, and these with stone for under-
pinning and fireplace were next hauled to the shore.
More than that, and meaning to surprise Uncle Asa,
he took workmen there as soon as the first spring
days came, in a quiet manner, and within a month,
a pretty little three-room cottage with an ell for
cook-room, a rain-water tank on top of that, with
piazza on three sides, stood where they had once
camped. Hazel was also informed of the intended
surprise ; she and Stacy made several trips to Barre,
and by the time the maples enclosing her home were
growing green, the summer cottage that love had
built for Uncle Asa to enjoy his shore life in was
all ready for him. Hazel's thoughts had gone be-
yond her own new illusion and plans; and every
comfort and convenience possible for her father to
use or enjoy here was added by her, even to a large
photograph of herself framed and hung over the
mantel above the fireplace. Then, as if to add the
one final touch most suggestive of herself, she ex-
plained what she wanted to Stacy : a rod-square pit
was dug in the sand in front of the cottage and
filled with loam, a low wall of stones built around
it, and here she planted or set out all the (lowers it
would hold.
To her, also, knowing what was in store for her

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

499

father's feelings, this last act seemed akin to the
selection of a burial plot for him.

To acquaint him with her own future plans, was
also perhaps the hardest task she felt called upon
to perform. So much so, that she postponed it
for weeks after they were agreed upon between her-
self and Stacy, and the date for their wedding
named by her. But it must be done, and one even-
ing, the first one warm enough to leave doors and
windows open, and when the frogs were peeping
and piping their joy over returning spring, she went
to her father after Stacy had left her and made her
confession.

" Father," she whispered, creeping into his lap
where he sat all alone in the kitchen and enclosing
his neck with one arm, " we — we are to be married
in May after the dam is done, and I — he wants me
to live in Albion, he says. Oh, I hate to tell you,
father."

" O' course, girlie, o' course," he returned with
well-assumed cheerfulness. " I s'pected that, 'n'
it's all right so long's yew're happy." Then, as if
this marked the beginning of the end, he clasped
her with one arm and began stroking her face and
hair.

" We have planned a little surprise for you, poppy

500 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

dear," she continued pleadingly, as if to soften the
blow, " just the prettiest and coziest cottage by the
sea, and all done now ! But you must promise not
to go there till we — we go away. Then you —
may be you won't miss me quite so much after
that ! "

It was all said, t.e blow given, and no more words
needed between these two who had been one in
reeling so many years. Only a little closer clasp
came from him, while both her arms were around
his neck now, with a warm flushed face and tear-
wet eyes against his wrinkled cheek.

For a long half-hour after Hazel left him, he still
sat in his chair living over bygones, unconscious
even of the tall clock's solemn tick, then arose and
went outside to look around, as he often had before
retiring on summer nights. The brook beside the
lane he now followed down laughed and chattered
as usual, but he heard it not. A half-moon low in
the west outlined the winding creek, the vista of
broad meadow, and cast a silver sheen upon the dis-
tant ocean, but he saw it not. To the right lay the
village, and above it that more suggestive one with
its serried rows of white and brown stones. Only
this caught and held his eyes with consciousness of
its nearness in his life's journey, and that Hazel
was his no more in love and spirit; that another

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

501

soul had mated with hers and the parting of their
ways was at hand.

" It's got to come, got to come, 'n' the last o'
askin'," he said to himself resolutely now, his eyes
still upon the rows of stones, " but she mustn't know
how hard 'tis ! How hard 'tis I "

Once more he glanced' up at the starry sky, the
moon's bright crescent, then down to the bordering
ocean with its silvered path. This he now scanned
steadily for a long time, as if it promised the path
into another life and another world, then sighed
and turned away.

. " No, she mustn't know it, npver, never ! " he
said to himself once more, then faced about. And
still unconscious of the night's charm, the rifts of
moonlight glinting through the half-leaved maples,
or the brook's low lullaby, he walked with bowed
head up the lane and entered the silent house.

CHAPTER XLI

!•'.!

-■4

WITH some good luck and more push, Stacy
was enabled to place the last cai< stone of
his dam in position a week ahead of the
date he had set for the final lowering of its gate.
Then came the grand May-day bonfire, or a hundred
of them, scattered over the swamp area, with Uncle
Asa, Hazel, Sam, and the Old Guard watching it
from a hilltop, and that night the men were paid
off and given a concluding banquet. They in turn
gave a sort of medley concert of songs and danc-
ing, with half the townsfolk for audience that even-
ing, and next day all but a dozen of the most skilled
workmen departed.

And so closed the working part of transforming
Bear Hole Swamp into a storage reservoir whose
ultimate possibility was the completion of Stacy's
air-castle city.

The power house was yet to be built by the men
he had retained for that purpose, and a'ter that a
cable must be laid to transmit its electric results over
the hills and th -ugh the woods to Barre. To
entertain all Oakuale with an old-fashioned clam-
502

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

503

bake came next, and for this Stacy now prepared
by detailing his retained men to dig a dozen barrels
of clams, and ordering an ample supply of lobsters,
sweet potatoes, and other necessaries sent over from
Barre. Uncle Asa, of course, superintended this
important event ; Bert, the faithful Ike, and Stacy's
aunt came up from Albion the day previous to it;
Hazel, with a bevy of her girl friends around her,
broke a bottle of wine over the big flower-decked
gate as it was lowered into place, and christened the
dam " Our New City." The clambake, served on
tables under the pine trees just below, came next,
around which nearly all Oakdale gathered. Stacy
made a little speech of felicitation, and this con-
cluded the first part of an episode that had stirred
the hamlet as naught ever had before, and was
still likely to continue its piquant interest. Hazel,
with the tactful consideration that was hers, insisted
that Stacy's aunt accept the hospitality of her home,
and that evening Colby proflfered a few terse con-
gratulations to Stacy at the hotel, that may well be
quoted.

I am fully satisfied with what you have done,
my boy," he said to him, smilingly, and in his usual
direct way. " You have chosen well and built well
so far as the dam goes, and more so in the girl. I
am not surprised you fell in love with her and

504 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

forgot Albion for eight months, as you have. I
,houM, had I been your age and fancy free, for she
, a prize-winner among girls and well worth roses
at any price. Ike can manage matters here wh.le
you are off honeymooning, in fact, there ,s no need
of your staying here after your we. .ng. Our
business needs you in Albion."

And so Fate and cold biisir:css calculation brought
about what Uncle Asa knew at heart was m store
for him - a lone and cheerless old age

A week later, it was consummated, when all fem-
inine OaKdale and many of Uie masculine element
cr. vded its principal church to witness that event.
Uf course. Hazel was a beautiful bride - all br.des
are, a little way off -but she was exqu.s.te, even
close at hand, and Stacy had ample reason to feel
proud that he could now call so sweet, so wise, and
so tactful a maid his own, for weal or woe for joy
or sorrow, " until death do you part,' as the clergy-
man said in conclusion.

A little spread was served at her home to those
nearest and dearest to both, during which Uncle Asa
tried his best to be optimistic, cheerful, aud humor-
ous, and to add all possible good cheer It was
forced, however, as Hazel knew full well, for she
could read his heart as none else could.

" I want ye to stop 'n' say good-bye to me, g.rbe.

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

505

under the apple tree where we counted the money,"
he whispered to her near the conclusion of these fes-
tivities. " I can't do it here 'thout givin' way.
Jist drive by a couple o' rods, 'n' come to me fer the
last of askin'. Yew understa.. i "

Then he bit his lips and turned away. And only
supreme will power kept Hazel from bursting into
tears there and then.

She planned the parting moment, also, with her
usual tact, even requesting Stacy to tell the driver
just where to halt their carriage and not look
around to witness her leave-taking from her father.

It came about, also, as both wished, and a half-
hour later Uncle Asa in ambush b.ick of a cluster
of green-leaved bushes beneath the apple tree —
once the scene of another touch of pathos — saw
their carriage halt just beyond "iid Hazel leap out.

And the next instant she was in his arms and sob-
bing!

" Don't take on so, girlie, don't, fer God's sake."
he whispered chokingly and with a last desperate
effort to hide his feelings. " Ye're goin' to be
happy 'n' I want ye to start of! smilin'! I don't
want ye 'round no more either, I tell ye ! I — I — "
Then the rush of feeling conquered all will power
and shook his great frame with mighty force.

" Don't think o' me, 'n' don't miss mc, my God's

5o6 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

blessin'," he whispered, now kissing her upraised
face and clasping her closer still.

One long moment she sobbed in his arms, unable
to speak, then he pushed her from him.

"Now go," he said firmly, " 'n' God bless ye!
God bless ye alius!"

And so they parted.

ri'-iKff^Aiaifri

CHAPTER XLII

IT was almost sunset that May day when Uncle
Asa once more pulled his old brown dory along-
side the little wharf in the cove, stepped ashore,
made it fast, crossed the ridge of sand, and looked
over the wide ocean like one in a trance. At his
feet, almost, the incming swells curled over and
crashed in low, booming mono* ne, and upshot of
yeasty foam. To the left, where an out-jutting
curve of pebbles met them, came a clicking, as of
dry bones, after each receding wave. To the right,
and for miles away, the same persistent, sullen men-
ace of defiant sound, along the white-fring-d, lone,
and lonely shore. In front, and bordered by the
purple shadow of coming night, lay the broad ocesn,
white-crested, dim, mysterious, and sublime.

For a long moment he stood there, hearing only
that clicking rattle and sullen rumble, and knowing
that desolation and utter loneliness was his to face.
Then he turned and saw the red-roofed cottage Love
had built for him, peering out from its coign be-
tween the sand dunes.

507

-I

508 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

And just now it seemed like a mausoleum await-
ing his final occupancy !

He walked slowly towards it, grimly conscious
that it was almost that, after all, and his plan to
find peace and content here, as hopeless.

And then Hazel's heart and soul spoke to him !
First, in the little circle of flowers, now abloom in
front, next, in the two willow rockers side by side
on the cottage piazza, and more lovingly, in the
cozily furnished sitting-room he now entered. An
open fireplace, with white birch wood ready to light,
smiled at him from one side. Above that — and
next noticed — was a large framed photograph of
herself, and beside the fireplace a waiting easy chair.
A jar of tobacco stood on the mantel, two bronze
figures — a fisherman in sou' -wester and girl in sun
hat with a basket of flowers on her arm — flanked
that, and a pipe rack with a medley of pipes filled
the space between picture and mantel. In one cor-
ner of the room, also, and as if it meant to recall
Hazel's last visit here with him, stood a what-not,
upon which were all the shells and sea-curios they
had gathered then. A monster bunch of lilacs and
roses upon a center-table perfumed the room and
proved her presence there that day. Beside this lay
her auto-harp and a pile of books, while a rattan

THE CASTLE BUILDERS 509

sofa, more chairs, lace curtains, and marine pic-
tures on the walls completed the room's furnishings.
And yet, while love and money had been lavished
here without stint, it still seemed to him like a fur-
nished tomb!

"God bless ye, girlie, God bless ye!" he ex-
claimed, after his look around and eyes upon her
smiling face. " Ye've done all ye could, all ye
could, but it's you I need most." Then and dazed
still by his own hopeless mood, he drew the portieres
aside and entered the next room.

He found a table set for three with snowy napery,
another vase of flowers, and sideboard loaded with
more dishes and glassware. And opening into this,
a sleeping room with white iron bed, bay window,
straw matting, and white mull enclosing the dress-
ing-case mirror. To the rear of this dainty dining-
room, was the kitchen, with stove, ice<hest, white
sink, curtained shelves and box of wood in one cor-
ner. And, as if his plan ti come here and
fight his heartache out alone hao jeen understood by
Hazel, he found ice, meat, milk, butter, and two
baskets of strawberries in the ice-chest, and bread,
cake, and pies on the curtained shelves! All that
was lacking was a woman's hand and care to cook
and serve a meal, and her face and smile to add its

510 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

welcome. But the only one that could, had gone
out of his life for all time! Was only a memory
now 1 A picture on the wall I

To cook or eat now he could not, was not even
conscious of hunger! On the morrow he might be,
for body will in time dominate all heart or soul, all
joy or sorrow ! But not yet. And so with bowed
head, and all that had been done for him only add-
ing to his desolation, he returned to tht sitting-room
and Hazel's pictured face.

And now, a new pathos was adding to those soul-
ful eyes by the sunset glow, and a more tender and
pitying smile to her lips. It was as if she were
looking down upon him from a world he could not
enter. A farewell from somewhere on the shores
of time where light and life and love still ruled,
while he was entering the shadows of oblivion.
Conscious only of this, that but a few more years of
heart-hunger with naught to hope for awaited him,
then the serrated village on the hillside, he sat down
and bowed his face within his hands.

" It's hard to bear, harder'n I s'posed," he said
to himself now with grim resolution, " but I've got
to I Got to do it, that's all ! She 's happy anyhow,
that's some comfort! "

For a long time he sat there in the silent, darken-
ing room, eyes closed, face bowed upon his hands,

THE CASTLE BUILDERS

and unconscious of all else except his own hopeless
desolation. All his life next passed in review. His
first boyish illusions and ambitions, the continued
living in to-morrow, with brighter and better days
beyond, the fair girl — Hazel's counterpart — that
had entered his life midway of its course. Hazel's
coming, the few and best of all years after that,
then the break that seemed like the sun's blotting
out, with only Hazel left. How she had grown into
his life like a benediction year by year, the count-
less times they had been as two children on this
very shore, and iinally the coming of this soul-mate
he had hoped would care for and protect her future.
That had come about as he wished, but it meant
more to him than he ever dreamed, a severance
more hopeless. All this he lived over in the silent
room with only the waves' solemn monotone echo-
ing his saddened thoughts.

Then he looked up!

The room was quite dark now. Hazel's face had
vanished, and only starlight outlined the nearest
window.

It seemed like the open portal of a tomb to him !

And now the ocean's voice grew louder and more
varied. A child's laughter, a woman's sob, a mur-
mur of tones, like an auto-harp, and woven into all
the faint rattle and click of those pebbles! And

■m<'

512 THE CASTLE BUILDERS

then came a hollow sound resolving itself into
"Gone-away! Gone-away! Gone-away !" far down
the shore.

Footsteps crept around on the piazza I A whis-
per came from the inner rooms! Hazel's voice
reaching him from afar, from another world may
bel

And hearing this, once more he raised his eyes
to that pictured face above him, but vainly, for the
pall of darkness hid even its frame !

Then, without hope, alone in the gloom quivering
with that measured requiem of the waves, he bowed
his head, a great sob burst from his heart and tears
came.

And just then, like a spirit's presence. Hazel's
arms were clasping his neck and her face pressed to
his!

" Why must we love, 'n' suffer fer it? My God,
why must we ? " he whispered to her.
But only the ocean answered.

THE END

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^^i:i